Death Becomes Us
by axellon2008
Summary: On a wild-goose chase that leads him outside the village walls, a young Naruto inadvertently finds the Uzumaki Clan's Mask Storage Temple.
1. Chapter 1

I do not Own Naruto

Chapter 1: Brush with death

x-x

A confident and extremely happy boy marched down the street in the direction of his favorite place to eat. There was a stool with his name on it and he would be eating his fill. Crunched and crinkled in his hot little hand, a coupon could be found. One that would supply with him infinite wonder, at least in his mind.

In actuality it was just for twenty percent off his ramen order, but to him it was the best bargain he ever seen in the six years that he had been alive.

With his wallet Gama-chan bursting with Ryo, he would eat like a Daimyo and only have to pay a nobleman's price. In preparation for the meal, he had skipped breakfast and lunch so he could fit more ramen into his stomach than normal. Those were the reason for his grin and he would not let any of the normal hateful stares or looks get to him as he continued to march towards his meal.

x-x

Smiling at the success of his flyer campaign, Ichiraku Teuchi used his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his brow as he continued making the ramen that he had been cooking and improving for over a decade. His dream had finally come true and he had his own restaurant. Though small, it was more than enough for him to call his dream successful and just enough to fit their budget.

He had only just recently made the move from his old noodle cart to the small restaurant. To advertise, he and his daughter had put flyers up all over the village in order to attract more business. The coupon on the flyer gave twenty percent off an order was meant for a single person to use on a single bowl of ramen and refreshment. Teuchi would break even profit-wise but hopefully attract more repeat customers through the generous incentive.

Setting a freshly filled ramen bowl down and a cup of tea to one of the patrons, Teuchi noticed a crack form on the tea cup. He eyed it warily. That was the second bad omen he had that afternoon. Though he tried to convince himself that he did not believe in such things, something told him differently. Turning back to the ramen preparation, he added more noodles to one of his pots and was about to start cutting more vegetables when he felt it.

His eyes widened as he stood stark still. Something was indeed coming. Turning slowly, he saw what the omens had been telling him. A hundred feet away and walking down the street towards his restaurant, was Uzumaki Naruto. While this normally would have been cause for him to smile as he knew the boy would eat a lot of ramen, he immediately noticed the crinkled coupon in the boy's hand.

'No...no no no noooooooooo.' thought a quivering Teuchi as he looked upon the boy flattening out the coupon and holding it up to show it to him. Even from such a distance he easily recognized it.

He had done everything he could not to let the child get his hands on one of those coupons on the flyers. 'How could he possibly have gotten one...someone must have...' and on that thought, he turned to his young daughter. She looked at him sheepishly and it was then that he knew where the betrayal had come from. Ayame was young and did not yet know the intricacies of business. She had always been kind to the boy and knew how much he liked the ramen, 'So she must have give him one of the flyers. She may have ruined me, but I can't stay mad at her. She's just too damn cute.' he thought and lamented his rotten luck. Almost all of his money had been put into that month's rent for the new shop and the ingredients that would be needed. He simply couldn't take such a hit from the boy using that coupon.

Glancing at one of the flyers that he had sitting nearby, he further realized his folly. The coupon had nothing on it that limited a customer to a single meal. Looking back to the boy, he dreaded every step that Naruto took as he approached the shop and his mind began to change how the boy looked. In reality, Naruto was just smiling to the man, but Teuchi was not seeing an innocent smile but rather a sadistic grin and hearing haunting laughter.

Doom. Doom was coming to his little ship. Doom in the form of a small boy with a bottomless stomach and an appetite, no...an addiction for his ramen. It had started innocently enough a year previously when the Hokage himself had brought the boy to his little noodle cart during lunch. After that, Naruto had started showing up at least three times a week and was his best customer. Despite that, he simply could not take such a loss from the boy's appetite which was why he made sure Naruto didn't get a flyer.

Ever closer Naruto marched and as he neared the final intersection before the shop, a particularly strong gust of wind blew. The strong wind buffeted the coupon in Naruto's outstretched hand and the piece of paper was pulled from his loose grasp. Flying through the breeze, Naruto's and Teuchi's eyes followed the coupon as it flew down the street and landed some distance away. Both turned to look at each other with their mouths hanging open.

"There is a god!" praised Teuchi as he raised his ladle up in the air triumphantly. Ayame, who had pulled herself up over the edge of the counter tried to see what had caught her father's interest. She saw Naruto and waved but didn't understand the current situation.

Naruto looked to the ramen stand and then back to the coupon. Teuchi's enthusiasm was soon gone as he realized he was not out of the woods yet. The coupon was still retrievable and he could not leave his stand or do anything to prevent Naruto from regaining the piece of paper. 'The coupon is only valid until 6:00 PM.' Teuchi remembered and looked to his watch which was telling him that it was still only around four.

A small smile formed on Naruto's face that filled Teuchi with dread and he took off running to the coupon.

And the chase was on.

x-x

Naruto lunged for the piece of paper, sliding over the ground a ways as the breeze took it out of his reach before he could grasp it. A nearby civilian was tripped by his dive and fell into another person, who fell into a fruitstand, sending multicolored fruit all over the ground.

Still in the chase and oblivious to the foot traffic around him, Naruto crawled forward on his hands and knees as the coupon blew in and out of peoples legs and over their feet. Cursing loudly as a leg ran into his ribcage, Naruto soldiered on while the man fell. A woman's scream could be heard as he crawled between her legs and underneath the hem of her short kimono. A plethora of different shouts and outcries ranging from, "Hey!" and "Watch it Brat!" to "What are you..." and many different grunts and groans as he crashed into legs and stepped on feet.

Nearly to the new resting place of the coupon, Naruto reached his hand out and he almost had it when a sandal stepped on his hand, crushing his finger. Naruto let out a yelp and before the man remove his foot from the hand, Naruto had reacted.

Inoichi yelled as his ankle was bitten and pulled it up, out of harms way to grab it. However, the motion cost him his balance and he stumbled backward and into his friend Choza. The tall blonde and large Akimichi both fell into an open tea restaurant. With no wall or door to stop their fall, Choza fell backwards onto the edge of a table, sending tea cups into the air and spraying hot tea on the patrons. Mostly ignored by the shouts of burned people, Inoich landed in a seat but found that someone was already sitting in it.

"Danzo-san." Inoichi said as he turned to see who he had sat on and found his fellow village council member. He laughed nervously at his sidway's position on the man's legs and blurted out, "Enjoying your tea?"

A single partially open eye looked upon Inoichi, who was only a few inches away from his face. With no facial expression showing the pain that he was in, Danzo gave a reply as hot tea dripped down his face and soaked into his bandages, "Until you showed up."

x-x

Getting up and breaking out into a run, Naruto chased the coupon as it was caught in another breeze. The number of people in the street had diminished so he was able to better see the coupon. He slowed down as the coupon slowly fell to the ground but sped back up as another gust took it farther away. Focusing entirely on the coupon, he didn't notice the person up ahead and collided with them.

x-x

"Hmm." Asuma said out loud as he glanced at the darkening sky. 'Rain clouds are coming in and the winds picking up.' he thought and decided to head to the Hokage tower before the downpour started. It had been years since he had been back in the village after joining the Twelve Guardians. It was very nostalgic to walk through the streets of Konoha again, though he knew it would be difficult to reintegrate into the ninja forces. His decision to join the Twelve Guardians had created a fissure between himself and his father. The Sandaime had been against his joining but he had done it anyway.

'And we haven't spoken since.' thought Asuma as he continued on his way. He had yet to come across anyone that he knew or at least had known, but that changed as he turned a corner and saw two kunoichi coming down the street. One he recognized by her dark hair and red eyes as Kurenai and was rather stunned at how beautiful she had become. The other he knew he had seen at the academy and in the chunin exams, though he couldn't place her name.

He had never been on a mission with Kurenai but perhaps he would get the chance to get to know her better now that he was back to the village. Trying to think of something to say as they got closer to each other, his staring was noticed by the dark haired woman and he thought he caught a glimpse of recollection on her face. 'That will certainly make things easier.' he sighed with relief as introducing himself as someone that knew her years ago, and that she may not remember, was not the kind of introduction he wanted after such a long time apart.

Both were drawn towards the other and they moved from opposite sides of the street to meet in the middle. The other girl followed Kurenai and as the three met something collided with Asuma's leg. He was completely distracted and didn't even notice the incoming child projectile. The impact pushed him forward and with one hand in his pocket, he instinctively reached out to try and brace his fall.

He managed to stop himself from falling and was in a kneeling position with one knee on the ground. 'What did I grab onto?' he thought at the sensation coming from his hand. Looking up, the cigarette fell out of his mouth and his eyes widened at where his hand was and on which person it was.

Mitarashi Anko glanced down at the hand that was grabbing her left breast and then looked down to the person who the hand was attached to, "It seems you've returned to the village with a death wish." said Anko as snakes began coming out of her sleeves and she reached for her weapons pouch.

'I might not live through the next few moments.' thought Asume and Kurenai gave him a sympathetic look, though she would only intervene to keep Anko from seriously injuring him.

x-x

Naruto was quick to get back up from the impact and continue his chase. He ignored the screams coming from behind him as he focused on his prize. 'Its just a little dirty, its still good.' he repeated in his head as the coupon had already been stepped on a few times but he was sure it would still be accepted.

Pushing past people as he came to an intersection that slowed him down, he was losing ground as the wind sent the coupon over the top of the heads of the sparse crowds. Getting frustrated, he yelled, "I won't lose." just as he was passing a person wearing all green but he noticed little else about the person and especially not that the man was walking on his hands.

x-x

So focused was Maito Gai on completing his 300 laps around the village that the odd looks that he received from the villagers went completely unnoticed. That however was typical of Gai as he never really cared about how he was seen by others. This was made more evident by the choice of green spandex, his bowl-cut hairstyle and extremely thick eyebrows.

To him, walking around Konoha on his hands was completely normal. Doing it 300 times was just a challenge to better himself and what other people thought of him was completely ignored.

On that day, however, something that someone said did catch his attention. He heard a shout of, "I won't lose." from behind him and he was immediately passed by a small boy running down the street.

While most ignored the boy, Gai was deeply moved by the shout. His eyes narrowed in determination at the boy's statement while a smile formed on his face. "So it's a challenge." he realized and his smile widened caused a pinging sound to be heard as his white teeth sparkled so brightly.

'I'm finally being challenged by the Youth of the next generation. He knows I'm nearing my final lap and has decided to race me.' he thought and yelled, "YOSH!" before digging his fingers into the ground and taking off after his challenger.

Innocent pedestrians jumped out of the way as the green rocket raced down the street with a large cloud of dust behind him. Catching up to the boy, he matched the pace and decided to make things interesting. It wouldn't be sporting if he completely outstripped the child and he certainly didn't want to discourage the youth for having the courage to challenge him.

Naruto looked to his right as something green had appeared in his peripheral vision. Staring at the green person, who was running on his hands while upside down, Naruto forgot about the coupon as the man looked at him with a smile.

"Yosh! A competition it is, young one. I will show you my Springtime of Youth as you have shown me yours!" yelled the man with enthusiasm.

Naruto screamed. Increasing his speed as fast as he could his legs began to burn as he endeavored to get away from the crazed individual.

"A warriors cry." Gai misinterpreted and admired the boys determination. "Hooaahhhhhhh!" The green man yelled, increasing his speed even more to catch up to the boy again.

x-x

Casually walking through the village with his orange book out in plain view, Hatake Kakashi giggled slightly as he read over a passage in the book for another countless time. He had just gotten back from an ANBU mission with his team and was unwinding. Women were probably giving him looks of disdain for the book he was reading out in the open but he really didn't care. It was part of the fun and one of the many ways that he messed with people.

Coming to an intersection, he followed his normal route to head out for a quick bite to eat before heading back to his dormitory to reacquaint himself with his pillow again. His head never left his book, nor did he need to look up as he neared the next intersection. He would be taking a left and then stopping a block down at a small resteraunt.

Walking into the intersection, a peculiar noise took him away from his book. He glanced up from his page and caught sight of Uzumaki Naruto running past him. He didn't have much time to think as his sixth sense told him of imminent danger. He quickly turned but all he saw was green, followed by pain.

x-x

Coming to a stop after the green man had disappeared, Naruto frantically looked around and finally spotted the coupon. The small paper had stopped being blown down the street but was now traveling higher and higher in the air. He started looking for a staircase to climb in order to get that high and onto the roofs of nearby buildings but as the paper reached the tops of the buildings, Naruto knew that it was either lost to him or he would have to wait for it to come back down.

Standing in the middle of the street, Naruto continued to watch the coupon as it was raised and then began to fall, only to pulled back up by again the wind. 'Its just messing me.' he thought as he watched the paper seemingly hover in the air.

Just as he thought it was going to come back down, a fast-moving shinobi hopped from one of the rooftops to the other. The ninja moved directly into the coupon and it was gone. Naruto stared at the empty sky and realized that it must have gotten stuck or snagged on the ninja.

"This isn't fair." he whined as he ran in the direction that the ninja was headed.

x-x

Looking up at the sky, Kakashi began moving his limbs as he determined the extent of his injuries. He was on his back and there was a heavy weight on him, preventing him from getting up. Looking up he came face to face with Maito Gai, who was calmly sitting on his chest.

"My Eternal Rival." Gai said as he looked down at Kakashi with confusion as to how the man had gotten beneath him.

"Gai, get off me. Now."

x-x

Hiragana Kotetsu landed at the villages main entrance and moved to the small stand where the chunin guards sat and watched over anyone entering the village. The eighteen year old set down a bag of food next to his fellow chunin and best friend Izumo as he began pulling food out of his bag.

"You know, its against the rules for one of us to leave the gate before our shift ends?" commented Izumo as he had tried to make that clear when Kotetsu had first abandoned his post about ten minutes previously.

Looking to his friend, Kotetsu frowned and reached for the bag he had just put in front o f his friend, saying, "Then I guess you don't want the food I brought you."

"Wait! Wait! I won't say a thing to anyone." said a starving Izumo as he pulled the bag back and began removing his food.

Kotetsu shook his head at his by-the-book friend and was about to take another bite of his food when he saw something on his vest. Taking the small orange piece of paper off his chunin vest, he turned it around to look at the black ink that was on it. 'A coupon.' he noted and saw that it was for Ramen.

'Its that new place that just opened up and its hasn't expire.' he realized and was about to suggest stopping after their shift was over to get a snack but he heard something that caught his immediate attention.

"THAT'S MINE!" came a shout from his left and Kotetsu turned just in time to see a blonde boy hurtling at him. Less than a second later, the boy collided with him, completely pushing his chair over and sending both crashing into Izumo.

All three were sent to the ground as Izumo's chair broke. While the two chunin tried to get up, both were stepped on by the boy projectile as he yelled, "Stupid coupon, come back." and ran off.

"Izumo, I'm in pain." said Kotetsu as he tried to get back to his feet, using the table to help him. "Who was that?" asked Izumo as he looked over the top of the table and tried to figure out where the person who had crashed into them had gone.

"I think it was the Uzumaki kid." said Kotetsu as he shook his head and picked his chair up.

A sudden flash from the sky was soon followed by loud thunder and both chunin looked around the covered stand to the sky above. "Hey!" said Izumo to get Kotetsu's attention as it started to rain, "Which way did that kid go?"

Both chunin looked to each other and leaned over the edge of the guard post to try and look down the dirt road that led out of the village.

x-x

"COME BACK, DAMN YOU!" yelled Naruto as he continued to chased the coupon. The winds howled as they removed leaves from the trees and blew the paper along the street and away from the village. As the rain started, Naruto ignored the drops that were hitting him as he kept thinking, 'Its just a little wet. Its still good,' trying to convince himself that everything would be alright.

With the rain picking up, the coupon became drenched with water and eventually fell to the ground with many wet leaves. Naruto stopped running as he walked up to the mess of wet leaves that the coupon landed in. Kneeling down he picked up the wet piece of paper and found that the ink had started to run, completely obscuring what had been written and destroying his chances for a hefty discount on ramen.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Naruto wailed at the sky while holding the ruined coupon. "WHY! WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS!" he continued to yell up at the sky with both hands in the air and followed that the previous statement up with, "DAMN YOU KAMI!"

A flash of lightning struck near him and the sounded was deafening. Naruto found himself flat on the wet ground and removed his arms from his head, giving a cautious look around before pushing himself back up. 'Maybe I should have added that last part.' he thought and got to his feet only to stop when he heard a sound.

Even over the howling wind, he could hear a loud groaning sound which was quickly followed by cracking. Covering his eyes form the rain and wind with his hand, Naruto saw that a tree near him had been struck by the lightning and he quickly noted that that it was starting to fall over. His eyes widened as he stared dumbly at the tree for a few moments before it started to visibly move and he began running away from the falling tree.

As the tree toppled over, Naruto ran off the dirt path and through brush past a few other trees. Not looking back as he ran, he could only listen as the groaning and cracking increased as the struck tree fell over into another tree. Branches cracked and gave way as the larger tree broke the smaller one and then struck the ground. The force of the crash caused Naruto to trip and tumble in the wet grass.

Soaked and scared, Naruto got to his feet and continued to run away from the tree. Flashes overhead and accompanying thunder only spurred on his flight. In his mind, Kami was angry and sending lightning after him, as well as trees.

He had no idea how long he ran for but he eventually got tired and cold, which prompted him to slow down and start searching for somewhere to get out of the rain. It was raining hard enough that even sitting under the canopy of the trees wasn't keeping him out of the rain and the trees were not his friends at the moment.

Covering his head from the rain in order to better see, Naruto eventually found a muddy trail and decided to follow it. After a few minutes of treading along the muddy path, Naruto spotted a building through the breaks in the trees up ahead. Breaking into a run, he eventually came to a small clearing. In the middle of tall grass sat a small temple. As he neared, his relief that he had found a nice place to wait out the storm soon faded as he got a better look at the dilapidated building. Part of the roof had caved in at one end and a large section of walkway that ran around the building had collapsed. The buildings entry way was also completely tilted to one side and looked ready to come down because of a broken beam.

Deciding it was better than nothing, he ran up the steps and moved under the collapsing entryway. Entering into the only room of the building, Naruto looked around. Water was dripping through the holes in the roof and rain as well as streams of water were coming through the caved-in area, running right through where the floor had caved in and onto the ground below. Spiral designs were carved into the supports that held up what was left of the ceiling and he remembered the same design had been on the entrance.

However, what really caught his attention about the room was the wall directly across from the entryway. On the wall looked to be a stage of some sorts. There were ragged curtains that were above a raised floor surrounded by a short railing. On the wall hung many white masks and black flames had been painted beneath the mask on the wall and a large piece of carved stone hung suspended from the ceiling. From his distance away, Naruto could make out most of the designs on the masks, which all seemed to be of Oni or at least quite scary.

Slightly freaked out, Naruto decided to keep his distance from the wall of demon masks and sat on the floor, pulling his legs to his chest as he tried to keep from shivering. He was completely drenched and after a few minutes, noted that he was feeling colder. Looking around the room, he finally decided that the only thing available were the ragged curtains that framed the stage.

Getting up, he went over to the stage and ignored the masks while he looked at two large columns that were adjacent to the raised area. They were solid and covered in some kind of stucco that had broken apart in many areas, revealing a wire mesh and stone beneath. Walking up onto the stage, Naruto began looking for the best foot and handholds in order to climb one of the columns and get to the curtain which was suspended from above and out of his reach.

Holding the column firmly with both hands, Naruto placed his feet on broken areas of the covering and slowly climbed to the curtain. He managed to get up a few feet and reached out with his arm to try and grab the curtain, "Not enough." he said out loud and began grasping for more handholds to pull himself up farther.

Reaching out again, he grabbed a piece of the tattered curtain and once he had a good grip, grabbed it with his other hand. With both hands on the curtain and feet straddling the column, Naruto started pulling but found that despite being old and tattered, the curtain was still quite strong. Looking below and finding a six foot drop, Naruto made up his mind and holding the curtain as tight as he could, let go of the column.

With all of his weight on the curtain, he was rewarded with a ripping sound before he landed in a heap on the ground. Groaning over the fall, his vision was completely obscured by a large piece of curtain that had landed on top of him and he struggled to get out from under it.

x-x

Letting out a loud sneeze, Naruto sniffled and grimaced at the continuing tickle in his nose, "Stupid dusty curtain." he commented. The faded blue cloth was incredibly dusty but it was better than his wet clothes which were laid out on the floor to his left. Low rumbles of thunder could still be heard outside as frequent flashes still illuminated the darker parts of the room. It was also still raining, though not as hard as it had been.

'I really hope I don't get into trouble for this.' he thought as he held onto the curtain a little tighter. Looking around the room now that he wasn't focused on being so cold, Naruto found himself in a state of boredom. He really wasn't tired and there was nothing to do or look at.

'Well...not nothing.' Naruto corrected himself as he looked back to the wall of masks. In the darkness, the white masks stood out quite well and his curiosity was getting the better of him. Adjusting the curtain to make a robe so he could walk, Naruto got up from the floor and moved closer to the masks. He made it to the stage before stopping and cautiously examined the masks closer.

Truly they were unlike any other masks that he had seen. There were ninja in the village that wore animal masks but those had designs and colors on them. Some merchants in the village also sold different masks of animals and with designs. However, the masks before him were just white and black with no swirls or streaks of any kind. They appeared to be more detailed too, with sharp distinct features and not like the smooth masks of the village ninja.

After making sure that none of the masks were 'looking' at him or had moved in any way, Naruto walked up the four steps of the stage and moved closer to the wall to get a better look at the masks. After counting them all and coming up with a total of 27, Naruto began examining each of them in no particular order.

After a few moments, he began to see distinct similarities between the masks. Each had a set of horns, a similarly styled haircut, and the mouth was open on each showing off teeth. However, despite these features looking very similar, upon closer inspection he found that they were sill different. The horns were all of different size or oriented on the head differently. Some were near vertical while others angled and farther away from each other. The hairstyles also fell differently on the head, some of the hair was closer to the nose, farther up on the forehead, or framed the face differently, despite being the same style of haircut. The teeth were also completely different. Some where white, while a few were black, and while all the teeth were sharp canines, the configuration in the mouths and sizes were all different. Some masks only had four teeth while others had ten or more.

The more Naruto looked at the masks, the more he began to believe not none of the 27 mask on the wall were the same, each was slightly different and unique from the others. A smile formed on his face as he looked at a few masks that had funny expressions or a deep frown. A select few were even smiling. Though perhaps an hour ago he had been scared of the masks, now he found them interesting. Only a handful were truly frightening.

'And that one looks familiar.' Naruto idly thought to himself and as he went to the next mask, he stopped and looked back at the previous one. Staring at the mask that was directly at the center of the 27 on the wall, Naruto examined it more carefully than the others. The mask had a full set of black teeth and ears, which some of the other masks didn't. The horns were tall and spaced wide apart while the hair looked relatively normal on the head. The nose was large and the expression confused him. Honestly he really couldn't place the expression or determine what emotion the mask was showing. It had furrowed brows as if in anger but mouth did not support that as it was neither a happy nor menacing smirk.

'But why do I think I've seen it before?' wondered Naruto as he had a strange deja vu feeling despite not being able to remember ever seeing a mask like it before. Quickly looking over the others again, none of those masks gave him quite the same feeling.

Stepping forward, Naruto got on his tiptoes as he reached up to the center of the second row and tried to take the mask. The tips of his fingers just barely touched the bottom of the chin on the mask and Naruto strained to push it up and get the small bow at the top of the head off the peg imbedded into the wall.

"Come on." he complained out, loud stretching as far as he could until he could touch the mask. With just the simple touch, he could not however get the mask off the peg so he began trying to push the mask upward as much as he could in a single swift prod to the mask's chin. After the third prod, the mask finally twisted slightly and the ribbon came off the peg, causing it fall.

Naruto's eyes widened and grabbed the mask before it could hit the ground, "That was close." he remarked as he turned the mask over to look at the face up close.

The white material was cool to the touch and now that he could feel it with his hands and examine the texture, he realized that it wasn't porcelain or plastic like the masks he had seen for sale at certain festivals held in the village. He didn't know what the ninja masks were made from, but it didn't look the same. The mask he held did not have a smooth texture but nor was it rough.

Flipping it back over, he noticed that there were no eye holes on the mask. The eyes on the front were colored black where normal people had white and the pupil was solid white and the same color as the rest of the mask. 'Is it not meant to be worn?' he wondered at the lack of eyes for a person to see out through.

Shrugging, he smiled at the mask and decided that he might keep it. It certainly wasn't his but the temple looked to have been abandoned and whoever had owned the temple had 26 other masks. Would they really miss one? By his understanding, that meant it was fare game. The symbols on the walls did look like the ones on ninja vests and shoulders so it must have been associated with the village, though in what capacity he had no idea.

Holding it up, Naruto decided to try it on just once. He knew he wouldn't be able to see through it and since there was only a small ribbon at the top, there was no way to secure it to his face, but he still wanted to put the adult-sized mask on.

Once the cool mask was on his face, something happened and all he felt was pain.


	2. Chapter 2

I do not Own Naruto

Chapter 2: Death can see you

x-x

No sooner than Naruto had the mask on his face, than his arms were yanked to the sides and his body exploded with pain that made him scream. A pale blue chakra engulfed him before everything went black and he collapsed backwards. Being so young, Naruto had never used his chakra before, nor even unlocked his chakra, so when it was forcibly unlocked by the possession, he could not handle the sudden loss of most of his chakra and passed out.

The pale blue chakra surrounding him did not diminish and Naruto's chakra began to slowly drain and would continue to do so until the possession was ended. Looking down on the unconscious boy, the Shinigami was puzzled at the strange turn of events. Being called to the plane of the living was not something that happened very often and he doubted one so young had allowed the possession in order to undo the recent use of the Shiki Fujin.

However, looking around the rundown temple, he found no one else. No one was putting the boy up to using the mask or lurking just out of sight. In fact, he couldn't feel a single soul within a few miles of his current location. 'He put it on of his free will or by accident.' he thought and looking back to the boy, he examined the name that appeared above the boy's head and the number listed. Both were easy to see for him and appeared in fiery reddish-orange letters. '

'Uzumaki Naruto. Twelve years, two months, and thirteen days.' he read and was curious that the boy was an Uzumaki as he did not look like the other members of the Uzumaki clan that he was familiar with. 'He won't be alive much longer either.' he noted at the short amount of years remaining on the boy's lifespan, though in his experience, it was perhaps a normal amount of time left for many ninja.

Examining the Uzumaki more closely, he began to see something familiar. Even with boy's face covered by his mask he recognized that it was not his first time seeing him. The last time had been when the boy was only minutes old and someone had used the Shiki Fujin to summon him. 'So your that man's son.' the Shinigami thought and the ends of his mouth twinged slightly. Feeling into his stomach he could feel the particular sealed soul of the person he was thinking about but decided not to say anything to the man about it.

'Then perhaps it wasn't a mistake that he put the mask on to let himself be possessed.' he briefly thought as it was possible that the boy wanted to release his father's soul. Looking around the room he had been summoned to, he frowned ever so slightly at the other masks on the wall and the state of the temple.

'This was where my mask was being kept?' he questioned at the disrepair of such a place. It had likely taken the Uzumaki years to complete that mask, possibly at the cost of several souls, and apparently they chose to keep it in a temple that was falling apart. Also with 26 other masks that looked absolutely nothing like him.

Looking back down at the child, he realized that it would be quite a while before the boy woke up, if the boy ever woke up. After a brief period of waiting, he decided to test how far he could wander away from the person he was possessing. Usually when called to the realm of the living, it was all business and over with in a few minutes. This time was evidently going to be different.

Leaving the temple, the Shinigami's large formed phased through the broken entrance and hovered over the ground as he looked up into the air. 'So this is rain?' he thought, reaching out on instinct to let the water droplets fall into his hand. The droplets however went right through his body and instantly froze before dropping to the grass and mud below.

He had no physical form in this realm and only a portion of his overall power, so nothing could touch him but he could also not touch anything, save for a soul. A flash of light caught his attention and he looked in time to see lightning and could hear the thunder that followed. This was the first time he had been brought to the Living World during a rainstorm.

Looking to the nearby trees, he decided to take a closer look at them as well. He had only seen leaves from afar and never up close. Watching as the water impacted a leaf and then ran down to the tip, it formed a larger droplet but stayed there and didn't fall. Reaching his spectral hand closer. As it near the leaf, the edged of the green plant began to curl and wither. The closer his hand got, the darker the leaf became until it died completely and fell off the branch with several others that had also been affected by his reach.

He knew that would probably happen but the knowledge did not stop him from reaching out to see it happen. 'So different from my own realm.' he mused as he examined other trees and noted the differences in varying species. He then watched the clouds move for a while. Some humans would perhaps find the scenery he was looking at beautiful but to him it was just strange and that made it slightly interesting. Despite overseeing souls for eons, he was never able to understand them or to interact with the Living World, only viewing it from afar.

Simply viewing the Living World told him little about it and due to the rules that all Shinigami must follow, he could never do more than view it from his own realm. Most Shinigami had no interest in the worlds where the souls came from but he wanted to know more about at least one of them. That was one of the reasons why he allowed himself to be summoned by the Uzumaki Clan when they devised the Shiki Fuijin. That jutsu had been created centuries ago in human terms but mere moments in terms of his own lifetime. It had been interesting to be summoned to the human realm by a human in order to help that human remove the souls of enemies. It only happened less than a dozen times but it had still been worth it.

Shinigami were not allowed to keep souls for themselves, however the Uzumaki Clan's use of the jutsu, bypassed many normal Shinigami rules. With the use of the jutsu, he received the soul of the user and whatever souls were sealed away into the user. Those souls were his to keep and do whatever he wanted with inside his stomach where they were sealed. The souls did make him more powerful but that mattered very little to him. Aside from the Shinigami King, there were no rankings among the other Shinigami. It was also exceedingly rare for Shinigami to ever fight each other whereas it was commonplace for humans. Despite this, it was interesting to be able to accumulate human souls when other Shinigami were prohibited.

Besides the souls he received for sealing away enemies, for a brief moment was able to see the Living World up close and later he could look through the memories and experiences of each soul. The arrangement was fine until one or more of the Uzumaki managed to craft a mask in his likeness. He actually didn't know how they had managed to perform such a feat, as the only ones that saw him had their souls sealed right afterward. He wondered if they truly comprehended what they had done when creating the mask.

'Perhaps those 26 in the temple were the failures.' he idly thought before continuing his previous thoughts.

Putting on his face, the Uzumaki were able to be possessed and essentially become him. By becoming him, they could undo the Shiki Fujin, having him cut open his own stomach and causing the release of whatever souls they chose. In turn, the person using the mask would have their own stomach cut open and subsequently died with their soul moving on and not becoming part of his collection.

'They never did release any of the other souls they had sealed. Only the ones of their clansmen.' he mused and remembered the last time the mask had been used for that purpose. Four decades prior, an old Uzumaki on his death bed had used the mask and managed to release all of the previous Uzumaki souls that had used the Shiki Fujin. No one had worn the mask since then to release anymore souls but the jutsu had been used on several occasions, especially during the destruction of Uzushio.

Looking away from nature and coming back to the present, the Shinigmai proceeded back to the decrepit temple and the boy who put on his mask.

Chakra and a small portion of his own power were still enveloping the body, though there was a noticeable lesser amount of human chakra than before. This signified that they boy's life-force was slowly being used up and he would eventually expire if he did not wake and remove the mask or complete the ritual.

x-x

Hours passed as the Shinigami patiently waited for the boy to wake up or die. Looking to the blonde hair he noted that the spikes had grown by one-sixty-fourth of an inch since the first time he looked upon him which had been nearly eight hours beforehand. Despite such a long amount of time passing, he found it interesting. The longest anyone had worn his mask before was...'three minutes, thirty eight seconds.' he remembered and the blonde had far elapsed that time.

The scene playing out before him was most interesting because he wasn't sure what would happen. During the few times he had come to the Living World, the humans he saw had writing over their heads. The fiery writing told him their names and the amount of time that they had left until death, which usually dropped almost instantaneously when he removed their soul. The boy on the floor beneath him was different. His writing had yet to decrease. He believed it may have been a result of wearing the mask as the others who had been possessed by him did not have their lifespans decreased until they cut open their stomachs during the ritual. It also meant that he had no idea if the boy would die from chakra depletion or wake up.

While either of the two possibilities could occur, there was also a third and fourth possibility where someone found the boy and removed the mask right before it was too late. In those scenarios, it was possible that Naruto would have the mask removed before dying or have it removed too late and be stuck in a coma for the rest of his life. Still alive but never far from death.

Those factors made the scene the most entertaining that he had ever witnessed since he started being summoned to the Living World by the Uzumaki Clan. If he had a heart, he was sure it would be beating faster than normal in anticipation of the outcome.

As Naruto's chakra dropped below the critical level needed to sustain life. The apparition-like being leaned forward and was enraptured as the boy's heartbeat and breathing slowed. Organ failure was soon to follow as the body attempted to divert all the remaining chakra it had to the brain and heart. A few moments later he stopped breathing. Looking up to the boy's head, he was surprised when the numbers shown began to decrease rapidly as the length of his lifespan dropped.

He watched as the fiery writing disappeared entirely without ever reaching zero. 'His death is certain. No one is coming to help him.' he realized as he couldn't feel any souls near them which meant that Naruto would not be staying in a coma for the rest of his life.

The blonde's heart beat became slower and slower until it eventually stopped and Naruto could be declared clinically dead by that point. The chakra depletion continued and eventually no more chakra was being produced in Naruto's body and even the amount from the seal was not sufficient to counteract the drain from the mask. At that point, the brain began shutting down completely until all brain function had ceased and Naruto was beyond the point of any resuscitation.

If the Shinigami was honest with himself, he was a bit disappointed with the conclusion. He knew that in end, death was inevitable, but a part of him thought the boy would regain consciousness and take off the mask before dying. 'He did have over twelve years left when he initially put the mask on.'

'I suppose it's time for me to go.' he thought but surprisingly, nothing happened. As he wondered when he would be forcibly pulled from the Living World and sent back, the blonde's soul began leaving the body. The blue form of the soul was in the exact shape of the boy, however it had few of the distinguishing features or details of the body.

Watching the soul move a few feet above the body, the Shinigami was surprised when it stopped moving and stayed where it was. He had expected it to disappear and travel to his own world but that was not happening and furthermore he was still not disappearing.

Normally, after the body had died, souls left the Living World and arrived in the Shinigami World. If they were ready to move on, then a Shinigami would transport them to the correct place. Should they not be ready to move on, then they stayed in limbo until they were ready. Some souls chose not to move on in order to seek forgiveness or apologize to other souls that would soon arrive.

Other souls were sometimes just too afraid to go on and were stuck until they came to terms with their death and some souls knew exactly where they were headed in the afterlife and tried to run away from the inevitable. So they either continue to stay in limbo or were hunted down by the Shinigami.

Minutes passed as nothing happened and the Shinigami, for one of the few times during his very long existence, was confused. Something was different and the boy's soul was not leaving the Living World. Thinking over the situation, he determined that it must have something to do with his presence.

'The other humans that used the mask either took souls with it and their souls were thus sealed in me, or they cut open their stomachs and soon died...' he thought but quickly remembered something else, 'All of the ones that cut themselves open to remove souls, took off the mask before they died.' That was the difference. Uzumaki Naruto had died with the mask on.

'He died while allowing himself to be possessed by me.' he realized and then knew why the soul was staying where it was.

'It belongs to me now.' he reasoned and knew that to be correct. Since he was there, the soul was not moving on because it was his property now. Thinking that it would be another one of the many souls sealed into his stomach, he stopped that particular train of thought as another realization dawned on him.

He hadn't done anything to receive the soul. It was freely given to him without any compensation. Normally the payment was the use of his weakened abilities, but that was not the case now. The boy's soul was not going to be sealed in him and he was free to do whatever he wanted with it. The souls in his stomach were there for all eternity and while he could do as he pleased with them, they couldn't leave his stomach unless the mask was used.

However, he could do anything to Uzumaki Naruto's soul. He could eat it and add it to the collection in his stomach, cast it into hell or send it to heaven. Perhaps send it to his own world like a normal soul or even leave it in the Living World where it would become a spirit doomed to walk alongside the living for all eternity. Such freedom was never given to a Shinigami, or that he knew of it was never given to a Shinigami. Whereas he once thought his dealings with the Uzumaki Clan were simply unique, the current situation was even more outside the natural order of things.

Reaching out, his hand grasped the small soul and he pulled it closer. Two of his long spikes of white hair began instinctively wrapping around the soul to secure it but the Shinigami didn't move as he thought about what to do. There were many avenues available to him but there was yet one more option that benefited him more than any of the others.

Moving closer to the corpse, the Shinigami pushed the soul back into the body. Despite the boy being brain dead, he had enough power in the Living World to reverse the damage and revive him. Once the process was started it would continue until the boy completely recovered, however there was one thing left to deal with and it was the most cumbersome part of his plan.

Since the mask was still on, he would have to remedy that himself as the boy was too weak to revive and take it off. The chakra drain from the possession was too much for his recovering body and Uzumaki Naruto would die for a second time if the mask was not promptly removed. While it was the best course of action to complete the process of revival, it would also mean that he would probably lose his anchor to the Living World. Unless the boy put the mask back on, he wouldn't be able to return. It was a risk but he was more of a risk-taker than any of the other Shinigami, which was one of the reasons why he let the Uzumaki Clan summon him.

Making a few adjustments, he was finally confident that the boy would not leave his mask in the temple, at least not for long. He knew from the memories he viewed in the soul that Naruto had seen his face before and the mask was therefore familiar to him. Holding up his spectral hand, the Shinigami manipulated the boy's soul. Naruto sat up from the floor and proceeded to stand.

Naruto was not conscious and still a corpse that was being controlled. Eying the peg on the wall where his mask rested, the Shinigami judged the distance and in one smooth motion, he had Naruto removed and tossed the mask at the wall.

Unconcerned that he was fading from the Living World, the Shinigami watched as the boy collapsed to the floor as if his strings were cut and his lips twinged slightly when he glanced to the wall and saw the small ribbon on his mask catch the peg. As he left the world, the mask stopped swinging back and forth, coming to a rest on the wall without any damage and exactly where it had been before Naruto had picked it up.

x-x

Sitting in the dark, the Kyuubi waited to be released. Hours previously, a foreign chakra had come to his attention. He couldn't properly place it but stayed alert in case something happened. During the hours that he waited, he eventually noticed that the lighting outside his cage was dimming. After that, complete darkness began to creep in from the hallway, edging closer and closer to the gate.

He had never experienced anything similar with his previous hosts so he was at a loss concerning what was going on. The darkness continued to move closer and he finally realized that his container was dying. When the darkness moved inside his cage and then began to envelop him, he panicked but eventually realized that nothing was happening to him.

Having never had a host die while he was still sealed inside, he didn't actually know what his fate would be. A small nagging doubt in the back of his mind thought that perhaps he would die along with the boy. However, seeing as none of his fellow Bijuu had ever died and had been sealed in hosts many more times than he had, it seemed that he would just need to wait. Breathing in the cold air of the dark void he was in, his keen eyes managed to see the faint shadow of the gate in front of him. The gate seemed to be fading away and he expected it to vanish the moment the seal to fail.

While he waited, he wondered what had happened to his container, 'It must have been a very slow death.' he imagined and smiled. 'He doesn't seem to have made it past five years old.' he guessed as he contemplated how long it had been since the sealing. Wondering who had done the boy in, whether it was the villagers or a single person getting revenge, he inevitably thought that it was rather sad for Kushina's son to live only live for only a few years but pushed those thoughts down.

Another presence in the void caught his attention and he saw someone he that he had not expected.

Standing in the darkness was the Yondaime Hokage. The former Hokage stood in the center of what was the sealing chamber and looked around the darkness. 'Where I am.' Minato thought as he looked around the dark void. The chakra he poured into the seal was supposed to be summoned in the event that Naruto lost control of the Kyuubi's chakra and the creature was about to be freed. But was that where he was?

"Am I in the seal?" he wondered out loud as he turned and jumped back in surprise when a dark appendage tried to grab. The appearance was followed with a loud clang as something was struck. Peering through the darkness from his position, Minato could finally see his attacker as red chakra began to pour off the creature and outline it's body. The chakra also outlined the bars of its cage, which were still in place and had stopped the attack.

"Kyuubi." Minato said out loud and the mention of the creatures name was met with laughter.

"What have you done?" he quickly accused and the beast's laugh merely deepened, "What have I done?" it questioned and soon continued, "You should be able to guess what has happened and though I would like to take credit, it is nothing that I have done which has caused this." he said and his head motioned to the surrounding blackness.

Collapsing to his knees, the Yondaime realized what was happening and said, "Naruto." in a small voice that still picked up by the Bijuu.

"He has slowly been dying for the past few hours and is now deceased. Who knows, maybe the precious villagers that you protected finished him off. However, it will only be a matter of time before I am release and can continue my rampage. Don't worry, I'll get revenge for you." said the Kyuubi before laughing again. As it thought about a few more things to say, the Kyuubi had finally realized what had been keeping it locked inside it's dead container, 'The chakra used to create the seal came from Kushina and the Yondaime, not the boy. Once it is used up, I will be free.'

Thinking about his situation, Minato determined that if tried to fight, he would expend his chakra which was the only thing holding back the Kyuubi. The longer he held on, the more time he gave for someone else, likely the Sandaime, to try and seal the Kyuubi into another container. Realizing there was nothing else he could do to stop the Kyuubi from getting free, he asked, "How long?" and despite the vague question, the Kyuubi knew he was not referring to how long it would be before he was released, "Your son lasted until the age of five, I think." He informed his sealer and smiled at how much the information was taking it's toll on the Yondaime.

"Only five." Minato repeated and he couldn't stop tears from streaking down his cheeks.

While the Kyuubi wished he could make the Yondaime's grieving worse, there was still the matter of the bars to deal with. Grasping the pitch black metal bars with both hands, he began to try and rip them apart. He could feel them give, even if just a little, as if the bars were losing consistency and bending to his strength.

The Kyuubi continued his endeavors until he felt something happen. The Yondaime seemed to notice it as well and they both looked around to see what was going on. The area at the center of the bars, where the seal tag was, began to return to normal as the darkness slowly receded from the bars. A ripple effect began as the floor and walls regained their color

"NOOOO!" Roared the Kyuubi as the return of everything to how it was meant that the container was somehow revived. Banging on the cage bars did nothing as the seal was as strong as ever. The Kyuubi watched helplessly as the Yondaime's chakra disappeared back into the seal and everything returned to normal inside his prison.

'No, its not normal.' the Kyuubi corrected himself as he sensed that something was...off. Leaning forward and sticking the tip of his snout through the bars, he sniffed and tried to determine what was going on. Humans weren't supposed to just come back to life and he smelled something familiar, yet he could not place it as had happened before with the strange chakra. He could not feel any negative emotions or chakra, however he knew something had changed with the boy. Whether it was a mental, physical, or change in his hosts chakra, he could not be sure.

x-x

Naruto woke up with a start as he fumbled with the tattered blue curtain and got to his hands and knees. He looked around the room the room he was in while kneeling. Trying to remember what had happened, he found his clothes sitting next to him and looked for the mask that he had put on. Not finding the item, he then looked to the wall and found that all 27 masks were still present.

'Weird.' he thought as he clearly remembered putting the mask on and then nothing after that. 'Maybe I just dreamed that.' he thought and, attempting to get up, he stumbled and looked to his feet which he realized were numb. He would have tried to touch his feet his hands but they also felt numb, in fact his entire body felt numb. Wondering what was going on, the numbness soon turned to a pins and needles feeling over his entire body.

Rolling around on the floor, Naruto yelled out, "Make it stop! Make it go away!" as he tried to rid himself of the odd feeling.

When the sensation finally left him and feeling returned to his body, Naruto looked out one of the holes in the roof and realized that the sun was already out. 'I spent the night here.' he realized and removed the curtain in favor of the dry clothes that were sitting nearby. After changing he moved to leave the temple but looked back at the center mask before leaving. 'I may not be able to find my way back.' he though and even if it was a dream, he had really wanted to keep that mask.

Running back back to the wall, Naruto grabbing the center mask and ran out of the temple with it, scared that something might happen if he stole it. As he ducked underneath the partially collapsed entry way, the seals on the mask failed to activate as the fuinjutsu placed on the temple to keep the masks inside had been broken overtime by the damage and partial collapsing of the building from decades of neglect.

x-x

Walking through the woods, Naruto breathed heavily as he found that he was incredibly winded with his short run out of the temple. It nearly making him stop and take a break before proceeding. Unsure of why he was having trouble, he pushed on as he needed to get back to the village. It was now Friday and he was supposed to get his check from the village today which was his stipend for food and other items. Since he hadn't eaten in over a day, and no longer had his coupon, he may need part of that check to help fill stomach. He also knew that if he didn't get the check out of his mailbox before the landlord checked his own mail, then it would disappear and he would have to go to the Hokage and get another one.

He followed the path that he had discovered the day before but it eventually ended in grass and trees so Naruto was left to wander through the woods outside the village. Moving past bushes and over exposed roots, Naruto noticed that his muscles began to hurt. It started out as a dull pain that slowly increased. The pain was not localized to any one muscle either as it seemed that all of them were hurting. A loud grumbling from his stomach proceeded to remind him of how empty it was, so he kept going despite the pain.

Dragging his feet, Naruto finally made it to a road. Looking both ways he tried to determine which was the way that would take him to the village. Seeing a wagon approaching in the distance, Naruto leaned against a tree and let himself slide down the front and into a sitting position as he waited for the merchant to arrive.

'What's wrong with me?' he wondered as he had never felt so terrible before. 'Maybe I'm sick.' he guessed as it did make sense after being completely soaked and running around. He seemed to remember hearing that people got colds in that manner and got sick from time to time but it was a first for him as he had never been sick before.

Hearing the wagon getting close, Naruto raised his head from its resting position on his knees and looked to the merchant guiding the beast of burden.

"Are you okay kid?" asked the man with concern as he stopped the wagon and looked upon the boy sitting on the side of the road.

"I've been better." replied Naruto honestly and he asked, "Are you heading to Konoha?"

"Yeah, its just up the road." said the man as he looked upon the boy with concern and Naruto then asked, "Can I...maybe get a lift?" while scratching the back of his head.

Considering the state the boy was in, the merchant knew he couldn't possibly leave him there so the he motioned that Naruto could get on the wagon and ride with him. Naruto used the tree to steady himself as he stood and moved to the wagon to climb up side and sit on the bench beside the merchant.

Out from under the shadow of the tree canopy, the man saw that the boy was very pale and seemed to be sweating, possibly from a fever. The wrinkled clothing spoke of the fact that they had probably gotten wet and air dried. Using the reins, he urged the animal to move at a faster pace than he had been going in order to get to the village faster.

As Naruto's head was swimming from the movement and he found himself dizzy, the conversation between the two was silent until the man spoke up, "You don't look so good kid."

"I think I'm sick." replied Naruto and the snorted as that much was obvious and asked, "If you're gonna hurl, make sure you do it over the side." to which Naruto nodded.

"You running away from something?" asked the man and Naruto thought about his answer but decided to tell most of the truth, "No, I kinda got lost in the woods and spent the night outside."

"Your parents must be worried sick." commented the man and Naruto waited a few moments before replying, "I don't have any parents. I live by myself."

Slightly embarrassed by his comment, the merchant decided to stay quite for a while. This was fine for Naruto as he wasn't in the mood to talk or say anything at all. The sun had just come over the trees and he put his forearm over his eyes to block it out, thinking, 'Man that's bright.'

x-x

When the village gates came into view, the merchant was about to mention something to his passenger until he heard the rhythmic breathing and found the boy was asleep on the bench. The man looked him over and found some color had returned to Naruto's face which he felt was a good sign so he pressed on and would wait to wake him until after they arrived.

Noticing something in the boy's waistband, he lifted the back of Naruto's shirt and found a very disturbing clay mask. Putting the shirt back to how it was, he decided to just ignore it. The last thing he needed was bad luck from some kind of cursed mask.

x-x

Naruto was roused from his sleeping by someone shaking his shoulder. Sitting up faster than he should have, Naruto's world began to spin as he tried to focus on where he was and what he had been doing. When spinning subsided enough to get a good look at the buildings, he realized that he was in Konoha

"Hey kid." said the merchant for the third time as he tried to get his passengers attention. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." said Naruto in a daze as he looked around and started getting off the wagon. Watching the boy stumble and nearly fall trying to get off, the merchant looked around for any signs or indication of where the hospital was. He had been to Konoha before but only ever went to certain areas of the village and never remembered passing the hospital.

Trying to call someone for help, he pointed out the boy to a nearby villager and asked the man to escort him to a hospital. The villager however gave him a dirty look and soon left. When the merchant looked back to Naruto, the boy was already making his way down the street and so he decided to yell, "Make sure you at least stop by the hospital, you stubborn brat!" He wasn't a young man anymore and chasing down a obstinate youth and marching him to the hospital was not how he wanted to spend his day.

Naruto gave a response and waved to the old merchant before heading to his apartment. Pulling the back of his shirt down to better hide the mask, he took the backstreets which worked out well as he didn't encounter many people and no none noticed him stumble along or when he knocked over some trash cans.

'It must be a hundred degrees out.' complained Naruto as he looked to the sun and thought it was beating down on him. Wiping sweat from his forehead, Naruto ran his hand along his apartment building wall to steady himself. He went through the open walkway to the main staircase and mailboxes for the building. Not finding it any cooler in the shade of the building, he found his mailbox and realized that he needed his key to get in it. Leaning against the mailboxes, he looked at the staircase and despite it being only ten feet away, he knew that it would have to go up three flights and it seemed a monumental task given how he was feeling.

"Uzumaki Naruto." a voice came out of nowhere and Naruto looked at the entrance to the apartment to find one of the masked ninja standing there. He hadn't heard the man approach so he was quite surprised. The ANBU looked over the boy leaning against the wall but continued with his orders, "The Hokage wishes to speak with you, _now_." he said, emphasizing the last word and the fact that Naruto wouldn't have a choice in the matter.

Knowing there was no way out of the summons, Naruto began looking for somewhere to hide the mask. He had hidden it thus far and didn't want to walk to the Hokage tower with it or have to answer the Old Man's questions about it. As he moved to follow the ANBU, while trying to stay upright and ignored the fact that the world was spinning. Noticing that one of the mailboxes hadn't been shut tight, he told the ANBU, "Lead the way."

The ninja turned and proceeded out of the apartment complex, giving Naruto enough time to remove the mask and shove it into the mailbox marked Apartment 7. '

Lucky number 7.' Naruto thought and wondered who that apartment belonged to. Having never gotten to know any of his neighbors for obvious reasons, he had no idea if anyone was even renting that apartment.

The ANBU heard the noise of the box shutting and turned to find the boy innocently following behind him. Unsure of what the boy was up to he decided to keep a better eye on him and waited just outside the apartment building for Naruto to catch up.

Naruto took four steps out from his apartment complex and promptly collapsed on the ground.

The ANBU took a moment to decide if it was a trick or not, as he knew the body liked to play practical jokes but knelt down a moment later to check the pulse. 'Erratic.' he noted and found that the boy's forehead was extremely hot. The symptoms coupled together meant that in the next moment, the ninja was carrying Naruto onto the roof of a nearby building and heading straight to the hospital.

x-x

Opening apartment door number seven, a middle aged man peered down the staircase to the bottom floor. The landlord could have sworn that he heard voices and that one of those was the Kyuubi brat. Saitoma walked down the staircase to investigate further but he found no sign of anyone in the buildings entryway.

Looking to the mailboxes, he pulled out his master key and opened the mailbox for apartment thirteen, which was the only apartment on the third floor. Finding a single letter inside, Saitoma smiled as he began completing his weekly ritual. Taking out the letter, he walking outside the building and ceremoniously dumped the letter in one of the trashcans.

With his task complete, he slowly walked back to the mailboxes. The boy had brought him nothing but hardship grief since moving in from the orphanage. Half of his tenants had left, with the other half demanding lower rent if they stayed. Before the boy moved in, he didn't have a cockroach problem which was now quite prevalent with the other tenants demanding the entire building to be sprayed. All of these troubled had occurred within a month or two of the Kyuubi brat moving into apartment 13.

He had tried to cut off the boy's power and water a few times but had eventually been warned against it by one of the Hokage's ninja. Now he had resorted to the more petty practice of throwing away the boy's mail but it made him feel better and hindered the Kyuubi boy. Moving to his own mailbox, he opened it with his key and found a large stack of mail. Pulling the stack out, he literally came face to face with something that he had not expected.

Sitting on the top of his stack of mail was a very elaborate and well made mask. It also scared the shit out of him. He quickly realized that it was either of a demon, an oni, or a shinigami. 'None of which I would prefer.' he thought as the color in his face drained as he stared at the particularly bad omen that lay on his Friday mail.

Saitoma was a very superstitious man. The moment the Hokage had told him that Naruto would be staying at one of his apartment, he had viewed that as an extremely bad omen and taken proper measures. That was one of the reason for him choosing to live in apartment number seven and giving the Kyuubi brat thirteen. He also kept many good luck charms and other items in his apartment. Some even on his person at all times to overcome the malady of his apartment building being chosen for the demon's den.

His hands started shaking at the item that seemed to look directly into his very soul with the lifeless eyes that it had. A chain letter was one thing but the mask in front of him was on a completely different scale. 'It's about a thousand times worse.' he thought and couldn't bring himself to look directly into the eyes of the mask again.

Had someone sent him the item? 'They would have had to get into my mailbox,' he realized as the slit on the front of the metal box was not large enough for the mask to fit. Only he had the key to his own mailbox. Was it some kind of omen to let him know that his death was approaching? Did the mask carry some kind of curse? He wondered as he looked around to see if anyone was watching him. Holding it out in front of him at arms-length, he panicked as he tried to figure out what to do with it.

"What could I have done to possibly deserve this?" he said out loud as his breathing was nearly at hyperventilating. Setting the arm-full of mail down on the ground, as gently as possible, he practically ran out of the apartment and nearly jumped into the dumpster. Fetching the letter, he walked it back into his apartment complex and put it through the slot in the number thirteen mailbox.

If it was karma that was affecting him, then the action should have helped but such a simple action would not redeem him completely given all the previous times he had thrown out the Kyuubi's mail. Turning back and finding the mask still sitting on the floor on top of his mail, he went and picked the stack back up. Saitoma was careful in not touching the mask and making sure not to let it slip from the magazine it was resting on. Letting it fall and break on the ground was not conducive to prolonging his life.

Starting to walk to his apartment, he stopped as he looked down at the mask that was still on his mail. He quickly looked away from it and knew that he could not take it to his apartment. Such an action may curse his apartment or lead to other terrible things befalling him. Going to leave the building, he again stopped as he thought better of it. Glancing down at the foreboding item, he wondered what he should do with it. He certainly wasn't going to take it with him anywhere or leave it somewhere for an innocent person to find. And there was no way in hell he was putting it in the trash but he still needed to get rid of it before something happened.

Glancing back at the mailboxes, he looked to number 13 and made his decision. Setting the stack of mail back on the floor, he ran up the stairs to his room. A minute later he came back down the staircase and was prepared. Wearing arm-length rubber gloves and holding a pair of metal tongs, he gently picked up the mask with the tongs and kept it away from him. Reopening box thirteen, Saitoma gently stuck the mask on top of the envelope and then closed the box back up. Walking to his apartment, the only thing he could think about was, 'I might be going to hell.'


	3. Chapter 3

I do not Own Naruto

Chapter 3: Death on trial

x-x

Extinguishing his pipe before walking into the hospital, the Sandaime proceed up the elevator to the second floor where he had three people to see. Exiting the elevator, he moved past the nurses station on the floor and to Naruto's room.

The Sandaime let out a sigh of relief when he found Naruto in the hospital bed. The boy's color had returned and he was no longer hooked up to any machines. It looked like Naruto would make a full recovery.

"A heavy sigh." Commented someone standing near the Sandaime and he turned to find the doctor in charge of Naruto, Kyomi-sensei. The woman had dark brown hair that was graying and stood at average height with her lab coat on.

"Considering the early assessment you gave me, I am quite relieved that he is doing better." Said the Hokage looking back at the patient and he asked, "Did you discover what was wrong with him?"

With a slight frown, Kyomi responded, "I'm afraid I can't say for certain." and the Hokage gave her a curious look that told her he wanted an explanation. She wasn't happy either with the lack of results from a full examination but explained what she could.

"When he came in, my first thought was a viral or bacterial infection with his high fever, low blood pressure, and pale skin. Blood tests confirmed my shosen jutsu's findings of organ failure with no foreign substances present. However his white blood cell count was normal which I found strange at the time. We administered antibiotics to fight the presumed infection but further analysis couldn't identify any virus or bacteria in his body.

We therefore stopped the antibiotics and began dialysis to take over for his reduced kidney function, put him on a respirator to help his lungs, and stuck to giving him fluids and nutrients while monitoring his condition. His vitals and organs began stabilizing soon after that and he was well on the way to recovery by this afternoon. Frankly I'm still not sure what we were dealing with." she admitted and the Sandaime could see how tired she was from the day's ordeal.

"Your best guess?" he asked and Kyomi waited a moment before answering, "Poison." she said and the Sandaime's eyes widened, "I thought you said you didn't find any foreign substances?"

"I didn't but its the only thing that makes any sense. I don't know when he encountered it or exactly how it entered his body but it began shutting down his organs. I found no marks on his body but he could have healed, given how fast I know he can heal, or it was something he ate or drank. His stomach was empty when he was brought in which could mean that it was ingested and vomited it up. The rest must have metabolized extremely quickly in his body since it could escape detection." she explained and the Sandaime wasn't happy about the hypothesis.

While there was a chance that Naruto could have ingested something by accident, there was just as much chance that someone could have poisoned him. "When do you expect him to be ready to leave?" he asked as they walked away from Naruto's room and the doctor led him to the next patient which she knew he was there for.

"I would like to keep him for a few more days but considering how he gets in the hospital and his exceptional recovery, I may just let him go in the morning. I would like one of your ninja to go through his apartment and remove or replace all his food and drink, just to be on the safe side." she suggested and the Sandaime nodded at the measure.

With a slightly amused expression, the Sandaime inquired about the second patient, "And how is Asuma doing?" On his first day back in the village, Asuma had apparently run amok of Anko with the kunoichi's snake summonings injecting his son with copious amounts of different venom.

Kyomi smiled slightly at Anko's newest addition to the recovery ward and was glad to have a patient that she could easily diagnose and cure, "We've given him the required anti-venom and it was administered quickly enough to prevent any lasting damage. Mitarashi-san uses the same snakes on every victim so we have a ready supply of the correct anti-venom on hand." she said as they stopped at Asuma's room and the Sandaime shook his head slightly at his son's swollen face and limbs. He noted the many bandages with two distinctive blood spots in the center of each.

'I don't even want to know what he did to deserve this.' the Sandaime thought as while Anko was a handful and quick to anger, she never attacked anyone without a good reason. She threatened just about everyone with bodily harm and he had the complaints to prove it, but a physical attack with snakes was always motivated or retaliatory. He would be calling the kunoichi to his office when Asuma recovered to discuss the attack but he had put it off as other things were also on his mind and hadn't even taken a look at all the paperwork that had piled up in his office.

Saying goodby to the Kyomi-sensei, the Sandaime proceeded back to the elevator. With Naruto's life out of danger and knowing Asuma would recover swiftly, he had paperwork and a stack of complaints on his desk that needed attention and which were still coming in when he left. Apparently Naruto had gone on some rampage through the village the previous day and while he wanted to speak to the boy that morning, he would have to wait until the following day.

x-x

"Anko, for the last time I won't help you put in a sexual harassment lawsuit against the Sandaime's son." Said Yuuhi Kurenai as she walked with with her tokubetsu-jonin friend. Both were headed to the Hokage tower to answer the summons for the complaint that Anko had filed. While Kurenai did not want to go, she was a witness to the complaint Anko was making and intended to not letting her friend go through with the plan.

"He grabbed my breast and he was clearly dressed in uniform and possibly on duty. As was I. This is a clear case of workplace sexual harassment." retorted Anko and she quickly demanded, "Where's your feminine outrage!"

"It was accident Anko." Kureani repeated for what seemed the tenth time that morning.

"Yeah, right. I don't buy that one bit. Besides, if the case goes my way, I'll be looking at a nice settlement. Perhaps I'd even be willing to share some of that nice settlement with my best friend." Anko said while leaning over and adding in a hushed voice, "My very cooperative and expert witness...best friend."

"He was pushed, Anko. What makes you think the Hokage won't throw the whole thing out? And besides that you put him in the hospital afterward." contested Kurenai.

"He's a jonin, Nai-chan. Do you honestly expect me to believe that a five year old could push over a fully grown ninja. Utter nonsense!" shouted Anko as she continued her march toward the tower.

"Taking the opportunity, he _let_ himself fall, right onto my breast. _Conveniently_ he had his hand out to get a good feel." Anko emphasized and continued, "Face it, your childhood friend became a complete deviant."

"Anko, don't touch yourself like that in public!" Kurenai said in a hushed voice at the fact that Anko had groping her own breast to show what had happened the previously.

'And talking about a childhood friend becoming a deviant.' the red-eyed woman thought with embarrassment as she looked around and saw several people staring at the lewd act.

"What...does my exhibitionism embarrass you?" chided Anko as she began lifting her skirt up a bit more. "Stop it!" said Kurenai as she batted Anko's hands away from kunoichi's own skirt.

"You just can't admit that the son might be as perverted as the father." stated Anko and she kept walking while Kurenai stopped dead for a second.

Catching back up, Kurenai grabbed her friends arm and veered them down a less crowded street, "Anko! That's the Hokage you're talking about."

"Please, he secretly checks me out every time I see him. Cooped up in that office all day, he can't keep his lecherous eyes from glancing my way when this..." and she motioned at her figure, "..walks in the room."

"You could wear something a little less revealing." chided Kurenai as he looked at the fishnet shirt.

"Fine." Anko said. "Since you think he's such an upstanding and saintly leader, let's count the number of times he glances at my _figure_ and if it's less than five I'll pay for dinner tonight." wagered the kunoichi and Kurenai agreed as she couldn't believe that the Hokage was like that and wanted to end the conversation before someone overheard.

x-x

Sitting back in his seat and waiting for anyone else that was coming to arrive, Inoichi stopped himself from looking to his right. He knew who was there and he tried to fight temptation as much as he could. All he had to do was get through the meeting.

Though he didn't want to complain, the fact that he and others had been injured as well as his wife having been adamant that the child should not go undisciplined for his actions had prompted his filling out the complaint. Glancing around to see who else had come, he found several jonin ninja and numerous civilians. Whether they had also filed complaints, or were just people attending the public meeting, he couldn't be sure but he wondered how many other people were going to show up.

They were in the mission assignment room with several rows of chairs arranged in front of the Hokage and his former teammates who were Village Elders. Turning back around he invariably saw the person he had been trying not to look at, which was Shimura Danzo. The final Village Elder was sitting in the same row but about five seats down from him. Normally Danzo should have been seated with the other two Village Elders but since he had likely also put in a complaint, the man was instead seated in front of his peers.

The reason why he was trying to avoid even looking at Danzo was due to the man's new appearance. After having been scolded by hot tea, Danzo's face had more bandages on it than ever before. For as long as Inoich had been on the Village Council, Danzo had worn bandages over the right eye, part of the cheek, and the forehead. The forehead bandages were assumed to be in place of a forehead protector as Danzo was no longer on active duty but they could have also been more scars. Since the tea incident, Danzo's entire head was covered with bandages, with some black hair sticking out at the top of his head. The coverings hid the entire face, save for a little slit on the left side, which was obviously for the man to still see through with his one good eye.

The problem that Inoichi faced, was the simple fact that he found Danzo's new appearance amusing. Ever since he walked into the room nearly fifteen minutes prior, sat down, and then turned left, he had to hold back his several outbursts of laughter. It was terribly unprofessional and completely disrespectful on his part but he just couldn't stop from himself from thinking humorous thoughts and smiling ever time he looked at the man.

No one else in the room seemed to find it amusing and obviously the man himself would not be the least bit amused by Inoichi's laughter. 'If I laugh at him here and now, I don't think I can ever go a council meeting ever again.' thought Inoichi and instead of feeling any sense of obligation concerning the situation and the stance he should be taking, he had to put his hand to his mouth to stop himself from laughing and keep a smile off his face.

'Perhaps the nurses just wanted to cover up his perpetual frown.' he idly thought and mentally cursed at his weakness over the situation and how those thoughts were not helping. He however couldn't keep his composure and ended up turning himself slightly to the right in order to try and stay out of Danzo's view.

Watching the rare scene before him, the Sandaime held back his mirth. Inoichi was really trying to keep it together but Danzo did look rather comical. 'If his hair was green, he could be easily mistaken him for a walking daikon (Japanese radish).' thought the Hokage and he kept his facial feature as unmoving as he could before a small smile formed. He made sure he didn't look in Danzo's direction but his former teammates sitting beside him knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Now he's more bandage than man." commented Koharu in a quiet voice that was meant only for her two teammates. The three almost managed to keep straight faces at the expense of their fellow ninja but ultimately failed. It wasn't often that anything remotely interesting or amusing happened to Shimura Danzo so it was a treat. The man had no clan, no family, no hobbies, and save for the illicit ones that the Sandaime was in the process of shutting down, seemingly had no life outside of being a Village Elder. While they should be feeling sorry for the man being scalded with tea, they just couldn't get past the amusement of the situation and new look.

The report that they had all read the previous day concerning eyewitness accounts of what had happened between Naruto, Inoichi, and Danzo was one the funniest in the past few years. Most reports that came past the Hokage's desk were of the morose variety. However, hearing that Inoichi sat on Danzo's lap and spilled the man's tea all over him had truly brightened the Hokage's day.

Looking through the large pile of complaints before him, the Sandaime's previous mirth waned. Thirty two complaints had been filed in one single afternoon and all against Uzumaki Naruto. 'Had one of these individuals taken to poisoning the boy for revenge?' he wondered but wouldn't be sure until everything was discussed. He had glanced through the stack but not looked over them carefully as other things were on his mind at the time when they were arriving on his desk.

The set of double doors opened as more people entered and pairs of eyes diverted to see who it was. 'Kakashi and Gai.' thought the surprised Hokage as he looked through the complaints to see if either had filed a complaint and what it entailed. 'Destruction of private property for Kakashi and... unspecified for Gai.' thought an intrigued Hokage as he looked over Gai's and found that the man had not filled in any of the normal complaint check-boxes or given an explanation of the complaint. 'I'm surprised Kakashi even showed up on time for this.' he commented but continued looking through the stack.

Glancing at Asuma, the Sandaime looked over his son and knew that he shouldn't have left the hospital. Moving Asuma's complaint to the front of the pile, he decided to deal with that one first so that his son could go back and rest.

Many civilians had shown up and most of the complaints were from civilians. Knowing that a good portion were likely bogus, the Sandaime had prepared by bringing the garbage bin for the room over behind the covered desk he was at. The bin sat right beside him to he could properly file the complaints that turned out to be phony or of no legal standing. 'I'll give another five minutes before starting.'

x-x

Opening the double doors, Anko strode into the room and was followed by Kurenai. "Wow, look at how many other people were that lechers victims." she said in a low voice as they looked for a pair of open seats. Kurenai only shook her head at the statement and as Anko did not get the desired response from her statement, the purple-haired kunoichi continued, "And he's only been back to the village for less than a day. My case is gonna be easier to win that fighting an academy student."

"Anko, did you even read the summons notice from the Hokage?"

"Glanced at it." Anko admitted and spoke up about something she had noted in the room, "Most of the people here are men and he groped all of them? Kurenai, I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but it looks like..."

"Anko, don't finish that sentence." interrupted Kurenai as she took her seat and Anko was soon to follow, sitting in the open seat next to her friend.

"They aren't here to complain about Asuma, Anko. If you had read the summons you would know that." the red-eyed woman tried to explain while rubbing her temples.

'Not here for him?' Anko repeated in her head and then out loud.

"Shit, they're here about me!" realized Anko and she tried to run but was grabbed by Kurenai and forced back into her chair. Still sitting, Kurenai's chair was pulled several feet as the sitting kunoichi used chakra to hold it to the ground and keep Anko from making a fool out of both of them. The dark haired woman was thankful that they were at the back of the room and few could see what was happening. "They're not here for you either Anko." Kurenai explained to the struggling kunoichi and Anko settled down.

"That's one." Anko said and Kurenai looked at her confused for a second before she realized what her friend was talking about. In a hushed voice she responded, "He did not look at you." to which Anko merely nodded that the Sandaime had.

"He was probably just looking at you because of the fool you were making out of yourself." believed Kurenai but Anko felt differently, "Then why was his vision clearly on the bouncing twins."

The conversation between the two was soon forgotten as the Hokage cleared his throat and began the meeting, "Some of you have been summoned concerning complaints filed against Uzumaki Naruto." stated the Hokage and he ignored the low exclamation of 'Oh thank Kami!' coming from the back of the room.

"As each complaint is presented I must ask that all of you remain quiet. I will not stand any outburst of any kind during this meeting. It does not matter if you filed a complaint or are just here to attend the public meeting. This will be a civil and orderly meeting. Anything to the contrary will result in the voiding of your complaint or expulsion from the room. Judgment will be decided upon at the end of the meeting after all the complaints have been presented." announced the Hokage as he was about to let Naruto into the room and would not stand for any disruption.

Nodding to the ninja at the door, they let in Naruto, who was escorted by an ANBU to the front of the room to sit at a prepared chair which did not face the crowd. 'You'd never know that he nearly died yesterday.' thought the Sandaime and he was saddened by the thought but thankful that Naruto had recovered. Looking to Naruto and waiting for him to sit, the Sandaime began, "There are thirty two complaints being brought against you Naruto-kun."

"That's way more than last time." Naruto commented nonchalantly and the Sandaime ignored the statement as he explained when and a general location of where the events occurred which led to the complaints.

"The first complaint is from Sarutobi Asuma. Please stand and explain your complaint." intoned the Hokage as he knew he was in for a very long meeting given the standard method of going through each and every complaint in detail.

Sitting near the very front of the room, Asuma stood on unsteady legs and before he could say anything, the Sandaime interrupted, "Asuma, I think you should really go back to the hospital."

"Don't fine, I'm worry." stated Asuma and the Sandaime stopped himself from sweat-dropping before asking, "Someone please take Asuma back to the hospital."

Before any of the ninja guards could move, Inoichi was out of his seat and walking down the few rows between his and Asuma's seats. Deciding that he really shouldn't have come and worried that he could not keep a straight face when his time came to explain the complaint, or worse, when Danzo's time came to explain the complaint, Inoichi decided it was best to just leave.

Taking Asuma's arm, he helped the fellow ninja get down the row and then proceeded to the door. Unfortunately for Inoichi, to get to the door, he needed to pass by his old row and came face to face with Danzo. Trying to keep a straight face failed as the blonde's mind thought of one last thing, 'Even the bandages are scowling now, or perhaps they scowl for him.'

No sooner than he had passed Danzo's row than he snorted with laughter and hurried to try and get out of the room before it got worse.

"Kami look at his face." said Anko in a normal voice, confident that the rather delirious looking Asuma may not even hear or comprehend the statement.

"I didn't even notice how ugly he was. Are you really sure you want to get closer to that?" questioned Anko to the friend beside her as the man in question was guided past their seats.

"That's not funny Anko." said a serious looking Kurenai before she looked back in pity upon the man. Asuma still looked to be in bad shape from the bites and she thought he must have broken out of the hospital as it was hard to believe the nurses had let him leave to attend the meeting while still recovering.

"Inoichi sure got a kick out of it." Anko commented as the pair of shinobi passed by and the doors were opened for them so they could leave the room. Kurenai wondered what Inoichi had been chuckling about but quickly pushed the thought out of her mind as she focused on something else.

"Anko the swelling and bruising is from your snakes." said Kurenai and she wasn't sure if it was one of Anko's tasteless jokes or if she actually being serious and had forgotten causing the injuries.

"Oh, right." Anko acknowledged and looked slightly sheepish as it had been her severe retaliation that put the man in the hospital.

x-x

The meeting continued as the Sandaime went through several complaints from civilians, most of which were quickly filed into the trash bin. The fruit stand owner and tea shop owner however had been different. Naruto had caused property and produce damage at both establishments and everyone would have to wait until the end of the meeting to find out what the decision would be regarding those two complaints.

Looking over the next complaint, the Sandaime called the two ninja who had filed it, "Hagane Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo." 'Filing jointly.' he thought to himself.

The two Chunin in question both stood and Kotetsu began to explain their complaint, "You see Hokage-sama, both Izumo and myself were watching the village gate when Uzumaki-san appeared out of nowhere and crashed into both of us..." but they were promptly interrupted by one of the Village Elders.

"Are we to understand that both of you, the gate guards at the village's main entrance, were taken by surprise by Uzumaki-san?" asked Homura while looking at both Chunin critically. Both Izumo and Kotetsu fidgeted at being placed on the spot and realized that putting in the complaint may not have put them in the best light.

Having already been through a good portion of the complaints and noting by the clock that it had taken several hours to do so, the kage and elders was losing his patience. Looking at the two Chunin, the Sandaime spoke so that all could hear, "You're Chunin ninja, he's five. It is very inconceivable that he could have hurt either of you to any appreciable degree in some sort of surprise attack. If you press the issue, you'll find yourselves genin again."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." acknowledged both Chunin in unison and they sat down. Not a second later, Izumo was whispering to his counterpart about how bad of an idea it had been to fill out the form. While the Sandaime tossed the complaint and looked to the next, he suddenly remembered something.

"Is this _incident_ why you both were unable to report for duty yesterday?" he demanded and both Chunin's eyes widened before they glanced to each other and knew they were in more trouble.

"Come to my office after the meeting." said the Sandaime and they both nodded, knowing it was not a request.

Holding back a heavy sigh, the Sandaime glanced at the next complaint and frowned before looking up at the person in question, "Maito Gai."

The green beast in question was instantly to his feet and acknowledged his name with a loud, "Hai, Hokage-sama!" A moment elapsed in which nothing else happened and the Sandaime realized that he would need to prompt the man before getting a response, "You've filed a complaint but have failed to provide any explanation or even fill out the paperwork entirely. Care to explain?"

"Yosh! I was in the middle of a youthful race with Uzumaki-san but we were interrupted when I crashed into a bystander..." Gai began in an exuberant voice but the Sandaime quickly interjected. "Gai is this even a legitimate complaint?" he asked as he had the feeling that it was not.

"Of course it is a legitimate complaint Hokage-sama, we did not get to finish the race, so I'm complaining." stated Gai as if the answer was obvious.

'Gai, do you even understand the complaint form and its usage?' thought the Sandaime but refrained from asking the question to the man out loud. "I see..." was all he said and readily filed the complaint into the garbage. "You'll have to talk with Uzumaki-san privately about finishing that race." he concluded before glancing down at Naruto and watching the boy soundlessly mouth the words, '_Keep him away from me_.'

Finally letting out the sigh he had been holding, the Sandaime looked to the next complaint and called out, "Hatake Kakashi."

Noting the bandage around the copy-nin's head, the Sandaime wondered exactly what the property damage was and then he realized that something was missing from Kakashi's normal public persona, 'Don't tell me...'

"Sandaime-sama, as I was walking down the street, I was the 'bystander' that Gai spoke of during his race with Uzumaki-san..." and before Kakashi could finish, and having a good idea where the man was headed, the Sandaime cut to the chase and asked, "And the destruction of private property?"

Reaching into a pocket on his ninja vest, Kakashi produced an orange covered and the Sandaime suppressed a groan. The orange cover was bent backwards and looked to have been covered with mud. Also the spine of the book appeared to have been ripped.

"My book..." Kakashi began and seemed to be holding back tears, "...was irreparably damaged..." and he didn't finish the statement as he looked in sadness upon his destroyed property. All the times he had read it cover to cover flashed before his eyes and only the Sandaime calling his name brought him out from the flashbacks.

"Kakashi!..." started the Sandaime again as he was trying to hold back his anger and frustration at what a huge waste of time the complaint had been, "...those books just dropped in price and about 10 Ryo a piece now..." Stopping as he realized he had said too much, the Sandaime cleared his voice and added, "...Or so I hear...Are you honestly trying to tell me that you can't afford another one and are looking for recompense?!" questioned the Hokage of his ninja and Kakashi's only rebuttal was, "It was one of a kind. It's not the same!"

As the Elders beside him shook their heads, he file the complaint into the bin next to him, then sighed again and wondered if his well trained ninja were little more than schoolchildren. Looking to the next form, the Sandaime read the name and the complaint. 'Well, since Inoichi isn't here anymore and didn't come back...' he reasoned and filed the complaint into the proper bin. Looking to the next one, he held back a smile at the person listed but then thought, 'Drat, I should have moved this closer to the head of the pile when I had the chance.'

It wasn't that he disliked his former friend and rival, but they didn't agree upon anything remotely related to Naruto. He had a feeling Danzo would use try to use the incident to his advantage

"Shimura Danzo." stated the Hokage as he slightly frowned at the fact that a portion of the gathered people had already left the room by that point.

The bandaged man stood and began to speak but the bandages over his mouth muffled and his words and the Sandaime interrupted, "I'm sorry Danzo-san but I'm having trouble hearing your statement. Perhaps if you could remove some of those bandages." suggested the Sandaime.

Slowly Danzo's bandaged hand moved to his mouth and pushed aside the wrappings to barely uncover his lips, "As I was saying, due to the boy's rampage through the village, I ended up being scalded by hot tea."

"First or second-degree burns?" asked Koharu and Danzo turned slightly before replying, "First."

"Would you care to elaborate on the circumstances of your...scalding?" requested the Hokage and Danzo soon replied, "I was sitting in a tea shop when Yamanaka Inoichi fell into me, knocking the tea that I had just received into the air, where it splashed onto my person. From what I gathered, Yamanaka-san was bitten on the leg by Uzumaki-san and lost his balance." explained Danzo and the Sandaime decided to ask one more question, "And Yamanaka-san fell on top of you?"

"On my lap." admitted Danzo and the statement was met with a catcall from the back of the room and a few chuckles from a select few seated people. 'Thank you Anko.' thought the Sandaime and those that knew Danzo could tell that he was probably glaring ever so slightly, though with the bandages on, it was nearly impossible for anyone else to perceive. Slightly disappointed at the outcome of his questioning, the Sandaime thought, 'It's no fun when he isn't the least bit embarrassed by that.'

Turning to Naruto with an expectant look, the boy knew exactly what the Hokage wanted to know, which was why he had bitten Inoichi. "What?! He stepped on my hand." admitted Naruto to the unanswered question.

Shaking his head slightly at the response and really wanting to get to the end of the complaints to finally find out why Naruto had done such things, the Sandaime pushed Danzo's complaint aside and looked at the following one.

"S-sexual harassment!" said the Sandaime in a loud slightly shaky voice with surprise evident on his face and in the tone. His pipe dropped from his mouth and hit the floor, scattering ash and tobacco beneath his seat.

"That's me!" announced an exuberant Anko as she stood up from her seat at the back of the room, while the kunoichi beside her sweat-dropped. The purple-haired woman looked around and hurriedly decided to amend her statement, "I mean, that's my complaint."

As the Sandaime nodded slightly and tried to determine how to broach the question of how Naruto had possibly sexually harassed her, the kunoichi in question held down her hand next to her side with her fingers indicating the number 'three' for Kurenai to see. The red-eyed kunoichi promptly sighed, ignoring Anko's smirk, as she too had noted the Sandaime's glance at Anko's chest.

Completely confused at the complaint, the Sandaime didn't properly examine the form before he started to question his kunoichi, "H-he sexually harassed you?!" asked the Sandaime and his voice broke on the first word that came out of his mouth.

Thinking that the Sandaime was talking about Asuma, Anko answer, "Yep, he groped me."

"He groped you?!" repeated the Sandaime with a slight blush and Anko quickly expanded upon the statement to better make her case. "Took a big ol' grab of my breast." said Anko as she proceeded to cup her left breast as if to show everyone some kind of evidence.

The Sandaime dropped his pipe again and Anko quickly put her hand down to her side, indicating 'Four' with her fingers.

"That one doesn't count, Anko!" complained Kurenai in a hushed voice as she responded to the indicated number of fingers. How could a person not look when Anko was lewdly grabbing herself in such a manner.

"Right in the middle of the street and in front of everyone." said Anko in a very dramatic voice and she added, "never been more embarrassed in my life," making it appear as if the experience was incredibly distressing and taken quite a toll on her well-being.

Most were dubious about her last statement but they decided to let it go as whispers encircled the room. The Sandaime leaned back slightly and took a moment to converse with his former teammates.

'What's going on?' wondered Naruto as he tried to figure out what everyone was talking about. Turning in his seat, he looked to the purple-haired lady in the back but really didn't recognize her. 'She must be one of the ones that I bumped into.' he guessed and wondered if sexual harassment and groping were other ways of saying that he had bumped into her.

Though he had no idea why she would grab her chest or what a 'breast' was. 'I can't even reach those.' realized Naruto and concluded that it had been part of the dramatic scene that the woman had been putting on and she was instead indicating her heart. 'Maybe I hurt her feelings?' he guessed but he had no way of knowing.

He was brought out of his thoughts when the Hokage began asking him something, "Naruto-kun, did you really do that to Mitarashi-san?" and the elderly kage hoped that Naruto would refute the statement and complaint.

Not having any idea what was going on or what sexual harassment or groping was, Naruto relied on his patented maneuver in those situations, which was to scratch the back of his head and give a nervous laugh with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

The Hokage and two Village Elders were quite shocked to say the least. The three leaned back again and began having another conversation while whispers in the seated audience continued. After about a minute of discussion, the three returned to how they had been situated and the Sandaime leaned forward slightly to speak more directly with Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, you simply can't do that sort of thing. When this is over you will be apologizing to Mitarashi-san. Are we clear?" he asked and waited on pins and needles for a response.

"Uh, okay. I didn't hurt her did I?" asked Naruto as he couldn't understand why the Hokage was being so serious about the complaint. He supposed it was rather rude but it didn't seem like a big deal, especially not how much everyone was making it out to be.

Glancing back at the person in question, the Sandaime answered, "I very much doubt that."

'Well that's a relief I guess.' thought Naruto as he leaned back in his seat. 'What a strange day. I should have stayed in the hospital.' he realized as despite hating the place, it was much better than his current situation.

Leaning slightly further forward, the Sandaime decided to put a stop to such acts in the future, "Naruto-kun, you have to please promise me that you won't go doing that sort of thing ever again." said the Sandaime in a serious voice and before Naruto could say anything, the Hokage pleaded, "You have to promise me that you won't be doing that sort of thing to anyone, are we clear?"

Naruto looked very confused at the Hokage and what he thought the Old Man was asking. While the kage and two elders waited on baited breath for the response, Naruto thought over what was being asked. What he really wanted was to get back to his apartment and look for the mask and the best way to do that was to just answer yes, however what the Hokage was asking for was a promise.

'I wouldn't be able to bump into someone ever again and I have to promise that? I can't go back on a promise.' Naruto realized as he debated the situation. Did the Old Man know how hard it would be to never come into contact with another individual while walking the streets of Konoha ever again. People bumped into him all the time, sometimes on purpose. A simple bump would break the promise and what if someone was to bump into him? 'That's just stupid.'

"Why should I?" inquired Naruto as he adopted a serious expression.

'Kami help us, this is not he time for such a discussion.' thought the Sandaime as he was slightly unprepared for the question. As he remained silent, trying to think up the best response to convince his adopted grandson to forsake the dangerous and completely deviant path he was on, he decided it might be best to just give Naruto the hard truth, the Sandaime responded, "Because it's illegal, Naruto-kun. Illegal in Konoha and everywhere else."

Naruto sat gobsmacked at what he had just been told and the two Village Elders nodding their heads only compounded the feeling. 'Bumping into someone is against the law!?' he thought and couldn't believe such a thing.

"No way!" responded Naruto in disbelief at the statement.

"Naruto!" chastised the Sandaime in a raised voice at the exact opposite answer he wanted to hear but Naruto kept talking before he could say anything else, "I see people do that all the time in the street.

And now you're telling me its against the law!"

Now it was the Village Elders and Hokage's turn to be gobsmacked, along with a portion of the gathered ninja and civilians who could hear the entire conversation.

"My god! What kind of village have I let prosper on my watch all these years!' thought the Sandaime as he couldn't believe what Naruto was telling him and struggled to come to terms with such a statement about his village, where apparently sexual harassment was an everyday occurrence and quite tolerated.

"He's the second coming of Jiraiya. No, he's even worse." commented Koharu in a daze while shaking her head.

"But it's not just him, apparently its the whole village." said Homura as he thought of moving outside the village with his family, where it was safe.

While the three continued to sit in bewilderment, along with a good portion of the other people gathered in the room, the two kunoichi at the back of the room were just plain confused. Anko was not liking how her complaint was panning out. She had expected to hear the words, 'cash settlement,' but that was apparently not the case as the heads of the village appeared to be discussing something with the brat at the front of the room. She couldn't hear what had been said but suddenly the three went catatonic and most of the room went quiet.

"Hey, Nai-chan." said Anko as she got her friends attention and hoped Kurenai was equally perplexed at what was happening.

"Yes, Anko." responded Kurenai as she watched over the front half of the room and their reactions.

"What the hell is going on up there?" asked Anko and Kurenai quickly responded with, "I have no idea."

"Hey, Nai-chan."

"Yes, Anko." replied Kurenai with a slight sigh.

"I think I broke them." Anko said and Kurenai couldn't help but agree, though she wondered what the other conversations with the boy had been about. From so far back and with such hushed voices by those involved, they hadn't caught much of the exchange.

"Hey, Nai-chan." Anko began again.

"What now, Anko."

"I won the bet." pointed out the purple-haired woman and Kurenai cursed under her breath as she also knew that Anko had won. She had hoped that Anko had missed the last few glances but that was not the case.

Back at the front of the room, Koharu was the first to come to her senses and realize that something was wrong, and not with Uzumaki Naruto. Looking to the complaint paper, she picked it up and began looking at it. While the Sandaime was thinking about his biological grandson and how Konohamaru would grow up in such a village, he thought to his son and wondered why Anko had attacked Asuma if Naruto had groped her.

Homura began coming to similar conclusions and decided to question the person making the claim, "Mitarashi-san." he called to get the kunoichi's attention, "Are we to understand that Uzumaki-san groped you two days ago and this is the reason for your complaint?"

Anko looked at the Elder curiously and then started laughing. The laughter brought the attention of everyone in the room and tried to get her words out in between the laughter, "You thought...that the brat...oh Kami!" she continued and finally stopped laughing enough to talk, "That kid didn't grope me." she revealed and explained, "That's absurd, the brat can't even reach my incredibly supple breasts."

'Thank Kami. He can't reach her supply breast.' thought the Hokage as he repeated what Anko had said. He really didn't like where everything was headed and was glad that Naruto was innocent. For a few moments he thought he might have had a heart attack.

As Anko stopped laughing entirely and became serious again, she stated while looking directly at the Sandaime, "You're son's the one that groped me."

Dropping his pipe again, the Sandaime's mind was sent reeling before was prodded in the arm by Koharu who held up the complaint sheet for him to see. "You didn't even read this complaint completely, did you Hiruzen?" she said and the elderly kage glanced over to see his son's name written on the complaint and not Naruto's. He had missed that fact, 'Damnit!'

'So its not the village, or Naruto, but my own family. What kind of son have I been raising all these years?' he wondered and looked over the form again.

'Why was this in the same pile as all the ones concerning Naruto?' he questioned as it should have been given to him separately. Deciding that he needed to take control of the situation he began speaking to the entire room, "Since this claim does not deal directly with Uzumaki Naruto, it will be addressed at a later date, privately, and when the person it is being filed against is present to defend."

"I waited here all this time to find out I have to come at another time!" shouted Anko and the Sandaime sighed while nodding his head to the kunoichi who promptly stormed out of the room ranting about the time she had wasted. Glancing at Nartuo, he thought, 'I really hope he forgets everything that just happened. I really don't feel like giving him such a talk.'

Before he began looking at the next complaint, his eyes wandered to Danzo. Though he knew there was no smile on the bandaged man's face, nor any movement of the bandages at all, he could tell that Danzo was smiling. 'Smug bastard.'

x-x

More than an hour later, the complaints were finally all explained and a few more people had left the room as they weren't willing to sit and wait for judgment. Since starting, it had been nearly two and half hours. Most complaint meetings were over in minutes and everyone was glad that it was nearly over with.

With the majority of filings against the boy being sorted into the trash can, the Sandaime and Village Elders only needed to hear Naruto's side of the story before passing judgment on the few valid complaints remaining. The tea shop owner and fruit-stand owner would have be dealt with and then the few people that had legitimate minor injury complaints against Naruto. That included Danzo and about ten civilians which was less than half of the original number of injury complaints, with Danzo's being the most severe.

"Now that all the complaints have been heard, it is time to hear Uzumaki-san's version of events and explanation for his actions." and with that all eyes, turned to the seated Naruto...who was fast a sleep.

'He's got the right idea.' thought a tired kage but in the interest of finally finishing the meeting, he loudly cleared his throat and woke the boy up.

"I'm still here." grumbled Naruto as he rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"Yes, you're still here and so are the rest of us." said the Sandaime in a low voice and he began speaking louder for everyone to hear, "Now can you please explain to us the reason for what prompted your actions two days ago and why thirty two complaints were filed against you with eight people visiting the hospital?"

Naruto inhaled briefly before saying, "A ramen coupon."

"A ramen coupon?" repeated the Sandaime incredulously as he set his pipe down on the desk in fear of dropping it again.

"Not just any ramen coupon! It was from Ichiraku's and this was twenty percent off!" Naruto protested as he tried to emphasize the importance of the coupon. Murmurs began throughout the gathered people but a look from the Sandaime put a stop to the conversations.

'Its just one stupid thing after another today and this seems to be the crescendo. At least he has the excuse of being a child but still.' thought the Sandaime before asking the question that everyone else wanted to know, "And how exactly did a ramen coupon cause you to destroy public property and lead to so many minor injuries?"

"The wind took it right out of my hand." admitted Naruto and at the look that the two elders and kage gave him, he confessed in a single breath, "I had to chase after it and it flew down the street and I had to get it back since it was going to run out that afternoon and Old Man Teuchi wouldn't let me redeem it after the expiration date."

Before the Sandaime could completely process the hastily spoken sentence, Naruto was already continuing the story, "I kept trying to get it back but idiots kept getting in my way. They stepped on it and then stepped on me. When I finally got through and stopped getting bumped into, that crazy green guy started chasing me. After he ran into the lazy one, the coupon went high into the air was stolen by the two ninja guys that you yelled at. I had to get it back but then it got away again and it started to get wet from the rain...and...and...and THEN IT FELL INTO A PUDDLE AND ALL THE INK WASHED AWAY!" wailed Naruto as he was close to tears by the end of his explanation.

A long silence elapsed as everyone waited to see if the story was finally over and when Naruto said nothing else, the three at the front of the room began discussing what they just heard. "His entire story sounds very...improbable." concluded Homura and Koharu quickly agreed, however the Sandaime knew Naruto very well and said, "It does explain everything and I don't think he was lying or would lie about ramen." and he frowned at the looks he got from his teammates concerning the last part of his statement.

"Regardless of how embellished the story may or many not be, we still need to decide on a punishment." said Homura and Koharu augmented his statement, "Despite being a minor, he has caused quite the ruckus. Failing to do anything will look poorly upon our leadership." With the two elders in agreement, they looked to the Hokage for his suggestion on the punishment.

Never before had one so young caused so many problems in a single day and with Naruto's age in mind, the Sandaime put forth, "A lengthy community service? Supervised of course. He could complete some of the easier D-ranks under a ninja's watch with the money given to the ninja and the usual amount going to the village to recoup the cost of damages and hospital bills."

Both elders nodded at the suggestion as it was fair to everyone involved, "Am I to assume that the length of the service will be commiserate with however long it takes to pay the village back?" asked Koharu and the Sandaime nodded.

With their decision made, the Sandaime gave his ruling on the matter, "It is the decision of this meeting that Uzumaki-san shall complete indefinite community service until the cost of the damages is paid back to the village. The cost of injuries and damage will be covered by the village."

The punishment was meant with a fair amount of criticism but before the Hokage could regain order in the room, Danzo began speaking, "I assume that the service will only be for a few hours each day. Given his lack of proper supervision during the rest of the day, what is to stop Uzumaki-san from running rampant in the village again?" the bandaged man questioned of the three and Sandaime kept his features neutral as he thought about what Danzo was saying and listened to the agreement of the audience.

Thinking over the situation and whether it was best to squash the comment and those that were agreeing with it, the Sandaime had a thought which could appease what Danzo was saying and also work out well for Naruto.

"Well if you feel that strongly about it Elder Danzo, perhaps something else should be done as well." suggested the Sandaime and his statement was met with agreement from audience members, surprise from the two other elders, and a slight look of trepidation from Naruto.

'Hiruzen is agreeing with me.' thought Danzo as he tried to remember the last time such a thing had happened. He thought perhaps it was during the last ninja war as he couldn't remember a time since then in which the Hokage had agreed with him in a public setting. A slight frown adorned his covered face as he knew that the Sandaime must have a plan and it would not favor him at all.

"I believe the main concern here is that Naruto would still be unsupervised in the village during the majority of the day. Therefore, I think the best course of action would be to admit him to the Academy a year early. That way he would spend most his day under the supervision of a Chunin instructor and a good portion of the remainder of the day on community service for the village." put forth the Sandaime and his statement was met with mixed results.

Most of the civilians who knew enough about the ninja system, were happy with the arrangement. No matter how much they complained, they could not prevent Naruto from enrolling in the Academy. The remainder were against Naruto joining the Academy at all but the Sandaime didn't really care about their opinions. Danzo was rather stuck in an unfavorable position. With the Sandaime getting closer to shutting down his Root Foundation, he wasn't about to suggest it as an alternative, especially given how many civilians were present in the room. They were absolutely not supposed to know about his activities. His original plan had been to try and get the boy under his personal supervision but he would refrain from putting forth the suggestion since most of the people present were in agreement and waited until the end of the meeting to leave.

Naruto for his part was incredibly surprised that he would be getting into the academy a year early. The prospect of hours of community service was temporarily pushed from his mind and he mostly forgot about sexual harassment and the legality of bumping into people.

x-x

Before they parted ways from finishing lunch, Anko decided to put in one last reminder concerning the bet, "Don't forget about diner tonight. I'll swing by to pick you up at 7:30. Wear something...sexy."

Kurenai blushed slightly at the last part of Anko's reminder as the purple-haired kunoichi had increased the volume of her voice so that other people sitting near them could eavesdrop. 'Seven times.' she remembered and her faith in the Hokage as an upstanding leader of the village was diminished slightly with each glance.

As the two parted ways and Kurenai wondered how much she would be spending on diner that night, Anko said one last thing, "You don't have a curfew do you?"


	4. Chapter 4

I do not Own Naruto

Chapter 4: Death mask

x-x

Running back to his apartment building, Naruto suddenly had a thought. 'What the heck is community service?' he wondered but pushed it aside in favor of getting back to his apartment and trying to retrieve the mask. Thinking back to when he encountered the ANBU, he remembered the mailbox number that he had put the mask in.

Coming to his apartment building, he glanced at the box, finding it closed, and proceeded up the staircase. 'I don't remember who lives in apartment number 7,' he realized as he hadn't formally met any of his neighbors, only encountering a handful of them on select occasions while using the apartment staircase.

During those occurrences, few words were exchanged and of those words, nothing even remotely resembling names were exchanged. It was mostly dirty looks on the part of the other tenants in the building along with mutterings once he had passed them. Coming to the stairs, Naruto ran up them as fast as his feet would take him. Up two two flights, he made it to the third floor and opened his apartment door with his key.

Going to one of his hiding places, he removed the lock pick that he had found while still in the orphanage. It wasn't from any kind of kit or set but was something that had been made from some pieces of metal that had been bent. Despite it's rudimentary construction, it served him well several times in his short life. Remembering to get the key for his own mailbox, he ran back downstairs.

Skipping his own mailbox for later, he went up to the number 7 door. Naruto was about to insert his lock picking device when a voice from nearby caused him to freeze. "What exactly do you think that you're doing?"

Turning slowly from his stationary position, Naruto found that a masked ninja was standing about ten feet away and looking directly at him. The male ninja had his arms crossed with unreadable features underneath a mask that Naruto identified as that of a boar. Getting over his surprise of being caught, Naruto quickly tried to come up with an excuse for what he was doing as he realized that trying to break into someone's mailbox was not something he wanted to go see the Hokage about.

"I lost the key and the landlord won't give me a new one." he quickly said and waited to see if the ninja would buy his excuse.

"And your mailbox is number 7?" asked the masked ANBU and Naruto laughed nervously, looking at the mailbox he was currently trying to break into and then glancing down six mailboxes to his own which was at the very end of the line.

"Oh!.." Naruto said and tried to play it off as a mistake, "...I forgot that I was number 13. Hehehe, lucky 13." he said with a fake smile and the ANBU sweat-dropped.

'This kid sucks at lying.' the masked ninja thought and decided that he didn't want to take the trouble to report it. Walking forward, he stopped when he was a few steps from Naruto and bent down. Naruto flinched slightly but the ANBU didn't touch him, merely snatched the lock pick that he had in his hands.

Motioning for them to move to the correct mailbox, the pair walked five feet down the line and stopped at number 13. Taking the confiscated pick, the boar-masked ANBU effortlessly picked the lock on the mailbox and stepped to the side with his back to the other mailboxes and swung the door towards him which preventing him from seeing the contents of the mailbox.

Naruto looked over to the contents and saw his stipend letter which surprised him but what really threw him for a loop is what was sitting on top of the letter. 'My mask?!' he thought in shock but quickly remembered his situation and tried best to school his features and keep the ANBU from looking into his mail.

The masked ninja saw the surprise and fast concealment. Wondering what would cause such a reaction, he began to peer over the open mailbox door.

"THANK YOU!" Naruto practically screamed the the ANBU jumped slightly at the decibel level that the boy's voice had reached. With his attention turned back to the blonde child, he noted nervousness and thought to himself, 'Does he ever thank anybody for anything? Something's up.'

Scrutinizing the boy for a moment to see if he would reveal anything further to explain the strange actions, a short silence commenced between the two. Seconds passed until Naruto decided to break the silence and said, "You can go now...right?...Crisis averted and everything. I'm sure you have some important business to attend to. Protecting the village and all."

'Even more suspicious.' thought the ANBU and he knew that he did have to get back to his current mission, however that mission was to monitor the boy in front of him for the next few days. Deciding that the current exchange wasn't getting anywhere and perhaps it might be best to take a step back and continue monitoring unseen, the man held up the picks and said, "I'm confiscating these. You don't have anymore sets, do you?"

"No. Those were my only ones and thank you for confiscating them so I won't be tempted to get into anymore trouble." admitted Naruto with a very large smile that caused his eyes to squint slightly. Another moment of silence passed as the two continued to stare at one another

'Leave!' Naruto kept thinking over and over in his head as he continued to smile at the masked ninja. He couldn't get the mask out of the mailbox without it being seen and he needed the man to vacate the area before he could do that.

Raising an unseen eyebrow at the statement, the ANBU stayed where he was as he processed the scene before him. 'Polite and compliant.' he commented and knew that those were two things that Uzumaki Naruto was not known for being. 'What the hell is he hiding?'

Deciding that perhaps he should trick the boy, the ANBU said, "Don't let me hear about you breaking into anyone's mailbox or mail going missing for this apartment and any other apartment in the area." Giving the boy a stern look, Naruto proceeded to a fake an apologetic look and innocently responded with, "I promise. I will never try to go into another person's mailbox ever again. And thank you for setting me straight. I must say that myself and the entire village is grateful for your service."

The ANBU just stared at him and thought, 'Every bit of training and intuition that I have is telling me that something serious is happening right now and it involves these mailboxes. I should just grab him and take him directly to interrogation. Let Morino-san sort it out.'

'Go away!' Naruto thought while keeping up the innocent look of a small fake-sincere smile.

Deciding it would be best to just cut to the chase the ANBU asked, "What are you trying to hide..." but before he could even finish the sentence, Naruto had lunged forward and slapped the door with his hand, causing it to slam shut with a loud clang and lock itself.

Looking between the mailbox and the boy, the ANBU knew that he had stumbled on to something big and taking the lock pick, moved to open the mailbox and reveal whatever it was that the boy was hiding.

Panicking, Naruto tried to figure out a way to change the situation around and get the ANBU to leave him alone. He learned a new phrase earlier that day that seemed to put everyone on edge and cause complete chaos. Looking straight at the ANBU, he said in a firm voice, "This is sexual harassment."

The ANBU stopped in his tracks, nearly dropping the pick and looked back to the blonde, asking in disbelief, "Who the hell taught you something like that!?"

"I'll file a complaint with the Hokage." threatened Naruto as he realized that whatever he had said was working and the ANBU might be forced to leave him alone.

"About what?!" responded the ANBU with loud disbelief and shock that was uncommon for the groups normal persona. He couldn't figure out what was going on.

"You groped my breast." said Naruto innocently as he looked down and put his left hand to his chest.

"WHERE ARE YOU GETTING THIS FROM!?" yelled the ANBU and he looked around in a panic and made sure no one else was watching the exchange.

Back to their standoff, Naruto tried but failed to think of something else to follow that up with. The masked ninja had not left left and he was out of ideas.

'Screw the lock-pick.' thought the ANBU as he tossed the small piece of metal and pulled out a kunai. Stabbing the tool into the edge of the box, he began forcing it open. Something was in the mailbox and he needed to get his hands on it before the situation completely spiraled out of control and someone came. Before he could get proper leverage with the kunai, a heavy weight crashed into his leg.

Looking down, he found the blonde had tried to tackle him and was latched onto his leg.

x-x

Coming to the apartment building he was after, Gai proceeded to the main entrance to the building. He could have just ran up the side of the building to got to the third floor with a few jumps but decided to take the stairs as part of his training.

Right before he entered the building, he heard a strange shout.

"Let go my leg!"

Curious at the outburst, he peeked around the corner to find the small apartment lobby. In it were two individuals that appeared to be fighting over a mailbox. He recognized one as an ANBU and the other as the boy he sought to challenge. He blinked at the strange sight and tried to figure out what was going on.

"STAY OUT OF MY MAILBOX!"

'A crime in progress?' Gai thought as he heard the boy's shout and tried to analyze the situation, 'Why would an ANBU try to break into the boy's mailbox?' Deciding that it didn't matter the exact reason and that the situation required action, not thought, he prepared himself and would get everything sorted out later.

x-x

As Naruto struggled with the ANBU, who had nearly ripped the mailbox door off it's hinges, a shout made both ninja and boy stop to look.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" shouted a green blur. A foot struck the ANBU in the face before the man could react.

Naruto found himself on the floor a moment later and looked around to find the green guy from earlier that day standing very proud of himself and striking a pose. Looking for the ANBU, he found the man laid out on the ground at least ten to fifteen feet away from him.

'He sent that guy flying!' the blonde realized and he got to his feet before taking a few steps closer to the man in green.

Taking notice of the unhurt child, Gai gave a bid smile and proclaimed, "Never fear, Maito Gai is here!"

'How does that sentence work, his eyebrows scare me.' Naruto thought and began thinking of something to say to the person that had just helped him. "Um...thanks, I guess." replied Naruto as he looked upon the man was looking right back at him and giving a thumbs up. When the man smiled, his tooth pinged and sparkled which was bright enough to cause Naruto to look away. The man then moved past and went to pick up the unconscious ANBU.

'That was super cool, but he is super creepy.' concluded Naruto and he fished out the key to his mailbox from his short's pocket. Moving to number 13 while the green ninja put the ANBU over his shoulder, Naruto unlocked it and pried the mangled door open. He then smiled slightly at the fact that the mask was still inside and untouched.

"One last thing before I leave and take this man to the Hokage." stated Gai while turning around and looking completely serious.

Naruto jumped slightly and thought 'Oh come on!' He was almost there and nearly had the mask back in his possession.

"Will you continue our unfinished race from the other day?" asked the man with a hopeful look on his face. It wasn't often that he found anyone in the village willing to compete with him on anything and he had to beg Kakashi for weeks before his fellow ninja would even agree to a single contest.

Wanting to get the green spandex wearing man out of the picture, Naruto reluctantly decided that he should just agree to it, "Sure, why not. You'll leave if I say yes, right?"

"YOSH! Then I will meet you here at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning to settle the competition." and with that statement said, the man jumped to a nearby building and Naruto quickly lost sight of him.

"6:00 AM!?" Naruto realized out loud as he gawked at the ungodly hour that the man wanted to race against him. There was also no rescheduling as the green man was gone in a hurry and Naruto had no idea where to find him.

'Why was he going to such lengths to keep the mask a secret?' Was a thought that started to bug him at that particular moment. It was a nice mask but was it worth the trouble if he got caught having stolen it. Maybe it was just typical for him, after all his life did seem different or more complicated than most other children in the village.

"The things I go through. Now I have to get up early tomorrow." he said out loud with a heavy sigh while pulling out his mail and the mask. With the coast clear, he proceeded to force the mailbox door shut again and then ran up the staircase to the first floor. Reaching the top, he stopped before ascending the next set of stairs to his floor and wondered how the mask had made it's way from the number 7 mailbox to number 13.

Looking down the hall, he found the number 7 apartment door was rather close to the staircase and wondered if the person who lived there had helped him. 'It's more likely that the mask just moved by itself.' he thought and began laughing at the joke before going up the stairs.

x-x

Looking through the peephole on his apartment door, Saitoma tried to figure out what was happening on the first floor. He wasn't about to leave the safety of his apartment and actually go find out but tried to get some idea from the muffled shouts.

The shouting soon died down and he was left with a strong urge to go down and find out what had happened and if his building had been damaged in anyway. The temptation was soon lifted however as he spotted a shadow on the stairs and heard footfalls coming up the staircase from the first floor of the building. He recognized the Kyuubi brat instantly and when the boy stopped before ascending the next stair, he saw the mask in the boy's hands.

Eying the object with much apprehension, the man had to hold his hand over his mouth to keep from letting out an exclamation when the boy looked directly at his apartment. 'Does he know that I'm watching him?' he thought and leaned back slightly from the peephole. However, something made him lean back in to see what would happen next.

Moving his head to get a better view out the peephole, Saitoma's blood ran cold when the Kyuubi Brat started laughing. Though most would say it was innocent laughter, in Saitoma's mind it was demonic in origin. Though hours earlier he thought the might be going to hell, he now had a different thought concerning his decision to put the mask in the boy's mailbox, 'What have I done? Have I made him stronger?'

The laughter continued but was eventually drown out when the boy reached the third floor. Stepping back from the peephole and door as if it was burned him, Saitoma tried to calm himself but soon noticed that the door he had been hiding behind had been unlocked the entire time. With shaking hands, he turned the lock on the door handle and tried to figure out what to do next about the cursed mask that he had given to the demon child.

'That isn't going to be enough.' he realized as he looked back at the feeble lock on the door. He needed more locks and he if wanted to keep the brat out and protect himself, then he needed to be prepared.

x-x

Dropping the ANBU unceremoniously on the floor of the Hokage's office, the Sandaime gave a small sigh as he really didn't want to have to deal with whatever trouble it was that Maito Gai was bringing to him. It was bad enough what happened earlier that day.

"And why is it that you've seen fit to knock out the guard that I assigned to watch Naruto-kun?" the Sandaime asked of the spandex clad man before him.

Standing at attention, Gai proceeded with his explanation, "Sandaime-sama, I apprehended this unyouthful person trying to break into Uzumaki-san's mailbox."

The Sandaime's left eyebrow rose slightly and he looked to the downed ANBU who was starting to regain consciousness. Thinking he might have an idea what was going on and that the ANBU wasn't at fault, the Sandaime motioned that Gai could leave and he continued working on his paperwork, patiently waiting for his ninja to fully wake up.

A low groaning soon filled the previously quiet office and the ANBU began to get up off the floor.

'What hit me?' thought the man as he checked for any injuries and aside from head and neck pain, he seemed to be alright. 'One of my teeth is loose,' he also noted and then realized where he was. Quickly getting to his feet, the Boar-masked ninja stood at attention and the Hokage put down his pen and asked, "Gai-san informs me that you were trying to break into mailbox number 13 in Naruto-kun's apartment?"

"I-I can explain Hokage-sama..." the ANBU began, thinking he was in a great deal of trouble, "..I caught Uzumaki-san trying to break into another mailbox at his building and when I confronted him, he started acting suspicious and led me to believe that he was hiding something in his own mailbox."

Without responding immediately, the Hokage mulled over the information that his ANBU was telling him. Curiously, he then asked, "Which number mailbox was he trying to get into?"

"..Number 7 I believe, Hokage-sama." quickly responded the ANBU.

'The landlord?' noted the Sandaime as he knew who resided in apartment number 7. He also knew that someone had been taking Naruto's stipend checks for the past few months and now wondered if Naruto suspected that his building's landlord was behind it. 'The man does probably have a second key to the mailboxes. Perhaps Naruto found out and was retaliating?' he reasoned and the guess did make some sense. Realizing that his ANBU was still standing before him and possibly thinking that his career was in jeopardy, the Sandaime decided to explain what he was thinking.

"When you say Naruto-kun was acting suspicious, I'm guessing that he didn't want you to look into his mailbox or wouldn't even let you go near his mail?" inquired the Hokage and his ANBU responded with a nod. "For the past few months, many of his stipend checks from the village have...gone missing. The mailman swears he delivered them but they're gone when Naruto checks for his mail and he has to come here to get another one."

"You've got to be kidding me." blurted out the ANBU and realizing what he said, he looked to the Sandaime but found that the man had a sad smile on his face, as if confirming his statement. "All that to protect a stipend check?" he asked and the Sandaime nodded.

"I'm afraid so. He does have to live off that money." said the Sandaime as he tried to explain some of Naruto's erratic behavior. 'Which seems to be getting more erratic as of late.' he noted to himself. Though he wished he could do something about the missing checks and wondered if the landlord was indeed behind the thefts, the village didn't have the kind of extra manpower where he could investigate or try and catch someone in the act. He was using one of his own personal guard ANBU to look after Naruto for the next few days due to the poisoning scare. If nothing was found within that time then there was little else he could do.

Slightly dejected that nothing was going on with the boy and that he had humiliated himself, as well as gotten knocked out by Maito Gai, the ANBU decided he had better ask one more thing before going back to his assignment, "I'm not in trouble, am I?"

"Is Naruto-kun injured in anyway?" asked the Sandaime in response to the question and when the ANBU shook his head in the negative, the Sandaime said, "Then we'll just overlook this incident."

With a nod, the Boar-masked ANBU proceeded to go out the door before stopping and asking, "One last thing Hokage-sama, who's been teaching him about sexual harassment?"

The Sandaime groaned in response to the question and leaned his head back against the headrest of his desk chair. He really had hoped Naruto would forget about that.

x-x

Locking the door to his apartment behind him, Naruto tossed the stipend check onto his table and proceeded to his bedroom with the mask. Slightly paranoid of anyone looking in, despite being on the third floor, Naruto went around his bedroom and closed the shudders on his windows as well as pulling the drapes shut and closing off the door to his balcony. Once he was sure that no one could see in, he sat on his bed and inspected the mask for what should have been the first time.

The dream he had while at the temple seemed so real and he really wasn't sure what had happened to him. None of the doctors were keen to explain his sudden illness and he had wanted to talk with the Sandaime but due to the complaint hearing, he had forgotten. By the end of the meeting he just wanted to leave.

'I guess it was just from being outside in the rain for so long.' he thought as it did sort of make sense to him and he had made a fast recovery.

Looking over the mask's features and the small ribbon that was used to secure it to the wall peg at the temple, it all seemed like he had inspected it before. Nothing seemed new or any different from his dream. The eyes were not actual eye-holes that could be seen out of, but covered over and painted to look like an eye. Everything was just like it had been in his dream. The mask even felt the same as it had in his dream.

'If it was all a dream, then when did I fall asleep and does that mean that if I try to put the mask on, that all I will feel is pain?' he wondered as the feeling in his dream of putting the mask to his face was not something he could forget. It was definitely the worst pain he had ever experienced in his life, even if it wasn't real.

Debating about trying to put it on, he eventually decided to try it. What was the point in going to all the trouble of stealing it and making sure no one knew about it if he wasn't going to at least put it on once? Since there was no string or elastic band he would just have to hold it up with his hands. Positioning the mask in front of his face, he slowly moved it closer until the masked touched his face. No sooner had the cool material touched his skin than he knew something was wrong. The masked had latched onto his face and he felt incredibly strange as unbeknownst to him, light blue chakra began pouring off him.

Struggling for a few moments and unable to see, Naruto was about to start screaming and began to try and rip off the mask when the tightness of the mask on his face ceased. The darkness of the inside of the mask was then illuminated. Suddenly able to see and breath easier, Naruto started to calm down from his frightened state as he began trying to figure out what was happening. Taking numerous deep breaths, he looked around and instantly recognized that he was still in his room, however things looked slightly different than they had a few moments previously.

His dark bedroom was suddenly lightened and he could see every part of the room, even in the shadows created by shutting all the blinds. Whereas the streams of light coming in through the shudders had been bright, they were now dulled. As he examined his bedroom, the chakra coming off him lessened from it's initial state of release.

Moving his hands to his face, Naruto began feeling for the mask to see if it was still there. After the initial tightness, he could no longer feel it on his face and he also couldn't see the mask. His field of vision was just as it had been before putting the mask on and he couldn't tell that their was anything on his face. Touching his 'face' was a strange experience as his hands felt the cool material of the mask instead of his skin. Closing one eye, Naruto looked at his nose and found that it was pure white and not the normal nose that he was used to seeing.

Focusing on his hands to see if they had somehow changed as well, Naruto found that they too looked slightly different. The creases and texture of his skin on his hands seemed much more pronounced than it had been. He had never really noticed the circular designs on the underside of his finger tips before. Besides the detail he was seeing, Naruto decided that his hands hadn't really changed and his attention moved back to his room.

This time he started focusing on certain objects and areas. He noticed a fine layer of dust starting to build up on the unused upper shelves of his bookcase and he could make out the knots and grain of his wood flooring and shutters better than he ever remembered seeing before. As he moved to the bathroom to see himself in the mirror, an unseen entity also began examining his room.

The Shinigami was pleased that the boy had put the mask back on and decided to remain unseen. Scaring his newly acquired soul and body would not be productive and could cause the boy to never put on the mask again. He would instead be patient. Given how interesting a boy like Naruto would find wearing the mask, he was confident that said boy would continue to use his mask.

After he was done with a quick glance at the bedroom of the apartment that the boy rented, he moved through the outside wall and looked to the hiding ninja that was outside on a rooftop nearby. Waiting a few moments to make sure that Naruto's use of his mask had gone unnoticed, he moved back inside and continued his inspection. Despite owning the boy's soul, the amount of chakra expended by Naruto to keep the possession going remained unchanged. There was a higher initial spike to begin the possession but the amount lessened after that to a steady level of depletion. His own energy would be much harder for any human to detect but he didn't need the boy's chakra to flare up and possibly alert nearby ninja. In time, the chakra required may lessen but he couldn't be sure of that.

Satisfied that Naruto could evade discovery while using the mask while indoors, the Shinigami continued his examination of the boy's apartment. It was interesting to see what foods and drink humans consumed as well as where they slept. 'We neither hunger nor require sleep.' he thought as he looked at the simple spring mattress and peeked his head through the fridge door to see what was inside.

Finished with his examination, he found the dwelling small but functional for a single human. Though not having a house or any kind of dwelling of his own, it was hard to juxtapose with anything that was familiar. Letting himself sink through the floor, he began to investigate the other apartments to see what was similar and what was different. Entering the apartment directly below, he found an elderly individual with over a decade left before her death.

The woman had many cats and he observed a stark difference in apartments. 'More furniture, a different apartment layout and many more material items all over the place.' he noted and proceeded to move on to the next apartment as the animals were starting to sense his presence. Coming to the next apartment after ghosting through the shared wall, the single male occupant seemed to be acting strangely, or at least strangely from what the Shinigami believed to be normal human behavior. The middle-aged man had moved a bureau in front of the front door and was pacing around the apartment muttering many different things, some of which happened to include mentions of Naruto and his mask.

Staying longer than in the previous apartment, the Shinigami contemplated what he should do. 'He isn't a ninja, nor ever was, so the threat level posed by this individual is minimal. Though completely paranoid and afraid, he could still be dangerous.' he thought as he assessed the man's mental stability. After looking above the man's head to the numbers written, the Shinigami moved out of the apartment and headed back to the third floor. 'Perhaps this one won't be an issue after all.'

Easily finding the boy's apartment again, he watched the blonde playing some sort of game in the bedroom while still wearing the mask. Trying to understand the game being played and what the point was turned out to be a fruitless endeavor as he simply could not comprehend what the boy's imagination was concocting.

Letting his thoughts wander, the Shinigami contemplated the future. The soul in front of him was not necessarily ideal for possessing and using. However, while opportunity and future gains were the most prominent motives for his actions, there were however many advantages to choosing Naruto in particular.

The Bijuu sealed inside of the boy created an imbalance. He knew a great deal about chakra and how it was used. Ninja had both yin and yang chakra that mixed together, almost always in equal amounts, with one being related to physical energy and the other spiritual. Naruto was unique because of the sealing. 'The energy inside of him is merely a half and not a whole being.'

With the Kyuubi's yin chakra sealed inside of the boy's father, who was sealed inside of his stomach, that left the yang chakra which had been sealed inside of Naruto. With how the seal worked, Naruto's chakra was mixed with a small amount of filtered chakra from the Kyuubi. This mixing caused an imbalance in the blonde's chakra, with far more yang chakra being present than yin. The Bijuu's chakra was also much more powerful than the boy's and even a small amount was significant.

The situation left a sizable 'gap' in the amount of yin chakra, which could then be filled. What it was being filled with, was a portion of the Shinigami's own spiritual energy that was being fed to the boy through the mask and the possession associated with putting on the mask. Normal possession using the mask was brief and any of his spiritual energy that entered the body of the human wearing the mask was quickly dispersed or returned to him. Naruto was different and with a few alterations to the boy's soul, he could absorb the spiritual energy that was used to sustain the possession.

'The more of my power he absorbs through the possession, the more of an 'anchor' he becomes for me in this realm. At some point I might even be able to physically touch objects or even interact with this world. I may even be able to travel far away from and explore on my own or perhaps even come to this realm without needing him to put on the mask.' he mused and wondered what those experiences might be like.

The only problem or concern that he could currently see was the boy's young age and less than average intelligence. 'However at some point even someone as stupid as him will begin to notice changes. When he does, he'll want answers and be more receptive to my presence. He may even start to notice my presence eventually. Right now he wouldn't even be able to hear my voice, no matter how hard I tried to speak with him.' the Shinigami acknowledged and knew it would unfortunately take time for such a process to progress and he would have to wait.

x-x

With a large smile, Mitarashi Anko waited for the main course to arrive and poured another saucer full of saki from the large bottle that had been brought to the table. Sitting across from her in a very sexy black dress was her longtime friend and the person paying for the meal, Yuuhi Kurenai.

As per the bet, she had picked up her friend at half past seven and Kurenai appeared to be holding up her side of bargain, especially with the dress. Downing another saucer of the clear liquid, Anko was interrupted from pouring another, "Anko, while I have no problem paying for the expensive meal that you ordered..." she said and commented in a slightly lower voice, "...which was the most expensive on the menu..." and then continued in her normal voice, "...I don't think I have enough to pay for the pricy Saki too."

Anko looked up a her friend and gave a large smile before saying in an exuberant voice, "Don't worry Nai-chan! Drinks are on me tonight. Drink up!"

Surprise was evident on Kurenai's face as she wasn't expecting Anko to be so generous. Nodding with a confused look and slight smile on her face, Kurenai took the bottle and poured some into her saucer as well. Watching her friend with a sly smile, Anko signaled the waiter to bring another bottle.

'Poor naïve Nai-chan. She should know better. I'm never generous without an ulterior motive.' the purple-haired kunoichi thought deviously as she poured herself and Kurenai another saucer full. Her plan was relatively simple and thus far, easy to execute.

They had met with the Hokage again that afternoon to reschedule the sexual harassment hearing. The Sandaime had been adamant on getting it over with a soon as possible, as the longer he put off such a complaint hearing, the more time there would be for rumor and the like to circulate throughout the village. Taking care of the problem swiftly and quietly was always better. Even if terrible rumors did circulate about it, having the complaint already dealt with would lessen the impact and make it seem like the whole incident wasn't a very big deal.

As such, despite Asuma's injury, the Sandaime had scheduled the meeting for early the following morning. Anko had agreed to everything and kept her features schooled the entire time. Though it would normally set off warning flags for most people who knew Anko extremely well, the Hokage seemed pleased with Anko's maturity concerning the situation and seeing it quickly resolves. The Sandaime had no idea that he was playing right into her trap. Using the bet with Kurenai, Anko was scheming to get her friend drunk. Even with the food that Kurenai had ordered, Anko drank with her fellow kunoichi enough to know Kurenai's limits and how much alcohol needed to be imbibed in the correct span of time for Kurenai to be drunk enough for a good hangover in the morning.

Anko certainly wasn't out to hurt her friend but with Kurenai as the key witness in her complaint, it was best if the red-eyed kunoichi was a no-show at the scheduled meeting. Aside from kidnapping or entrapping Kurenai, which she had considered and fantasized about, she decided alcohol would be enough.

'Get her drunk, offer to take her home, sabotage her alarm clock...and maybe have some fun with her body.' thought Anko and she couldn't prevent a perverted giggle from escaping her lips as she thought about the plan. 'Poor Nai-chan will miss the meeting entirely which will result in my victory.' she schemed and the giggling turned into full blown maniacal laughter.

"Anko. ANKO!" said Kurenai in a loud voice as she was starting to get annoyed and embarrassed from the looks people were sending her way.

"Huh." was Anko's reply after being pulled from her thoughts and she stopped laughing. "You were laughing hysterically and disturbing everyone around us. What were you thinking about?" Kurenai questioned.

"Oh, sorry about that. I was just so excited about dinner. We should do this more often." Anko lied and finished the sentence with a large innocent smile.

"I can't afford to do this more often and maybe you've had enough to drink." thought Kurenai out loud and Anko, realizing that the situation could turn out of her favor, replied, "Nonsense, Nai-chan. It's good to let go every once in a while. You should try it. Drinks are on me remember?"

Though still quite suspicious of her friends actions and motivation, Kurenai decided to make the best of the situation.

x-x

Staring down upon the sleeping boy, the Shinigami focused his power on the boy's soul and while still asleep, the blonde's hand moved to remove the mask that he had kept on his face and went to bed while wearing.

Doubting that anything interesting would happen and knowing that humans required many hours of sleep each day, the spectral being decided to end the possession. Though wearing the mask at night might speed up the process he was using, it would also mean that he would be trapped in the human realm during the night and possibly that the boy may die again if his chakra ran low enough. Naruto's chakra levels would increase with time so at some point it would be a more feasible option.

As he disappeared from the human realm and traveled back to his own realm, he wondered when the boy would put on the mask again. Hopefully it would be sooner rather than later and perhaps he would be able to view more of the human village known as Konoha.


End file.
